Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a challenge for new recruits when they come out. They only find out where they are going relatively close to when they finish. It is for that very reason the Commissioner needs to be agile and needs to be able to respond to issues in certain areas as they emerge. Where resources are required, that is where people are directed to. As I said, even the most recent class in Templemore is coming out a month early. That is not something they might have planned for or anticipated but they are responding to a need that is very much there in our city centre, but which is also a requirement outside Dublin city centre.

On trying to meet the overall targets, it has been made clear to me that accommodation is not necessarily the problem. We have taken a number of measures to shorten the PAS process. As a significant number of people are applying, it takes a period of time for the PAS process to work and for names to be given to the Garda. There is then a medical, a fitness test, if somebody has lived abroad, he or she has to get vetting from that other country for which a timeline cannot be dictated, and then we have to make sure that people still want to join. What is surprising to me is the number of deferrals. There are people who apply but are still in college, university or studying and who want to finish their course of study, or for whatever reason. For every three months of the intake, there are people who defer. PAS is trying to manage all of this.

Overall, what is very positive is that the most recent campaign attracted 5,000 people, even when we are at full employment. It shows that this an organisation that people want to be part of. I will do everything I can to speed up that process and when gardaí are in there, to support them insofar as possible.

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