Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)

We discussed at length earlier the whole issue of Garda recruitment. As the Deputy knows, it is a significant priority in the programme for Government to increase Garda recruitment by about 5,000 over the lifetime of this Government. We have made a very good and resounding start. Last month, in June, another 170 trainees entered Templemore, following on from 201 in March, the largest intake since 2019. Some 120 new gardaí were attested in June and 74 of those were assigned to the Dublin metropolitan region, which is the vast majority of those who were attested. How the Commissioner allocates gardaí who are exiting Templemore following their attestation is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner and something we do not get involved in. The allocation of recruits from Templemore regularly gets raised with me regarding my own area of Limerick. It is challenging but it is something we are working to increase.

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