James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is recognised that more gardaí are needed across the country. That is why there is a significant recruitment campaign taking place and why record levels of funding have been provided for to recruit gardaí and additional civilian staff to allow for the freeing up of more officers.

It is important to point out that probationary gardaí are not the only ones who go into counties. In some cases, a county may get very few probationary gardaí because additional experienced gardaí are being transferred in. We have to look at the number of gardaí going into a county in any one year in the round, not just at the numbers of probationary gardaí. Often, it is experienced gardaí that chief superintendents prefer. That said, we hear the Deputies and will continue with the significant recruitment campaign that is already happening.

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