Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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4. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how he intends to improve recruitment and retention rates in An Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25403/23]

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I wish to discuss with the Minister the strength of An Garda Síochána and any measures he intends to introduce to improve recruitment and retention rates.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Berry for this important question. The Government is committed to doing all that we can to build stronger safer communities. A key part of that has to be supporting An Garda Síochána, increasing the numbers, resourcing and equipping it properly. That is why we have given the highest allocation ever to An Garda Síochána in budget 2023 of €2.1 billion. This level of funding will provide for a steady pipeline, if I may use that phrase, of new gardaí in coming years. The Government will continue to work closely with the Commissioner to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána are fully supported. The funding allocation we provided this year will fund the recruitment of up to 1,000 gardaí and 400 additional Garda staff this year. Those Garda staff are also important because they free up gardaí to do front-line policing duties.

The Government is steadfast in our commitment to support the Commissioner bringing the number of gardaí to 15,000 and above in the coming years. The 15,000 is not a ceiling; we want to go above and beyond that. There have been challenges with recruitment due to the Covid pandemic restrictions. Templemore College was closed during the time of the financial crash. When it finally reopened and was beginning to ramp up, it closed again twice as a result of the Covid pandemic. However, we are now back in a period of annual recruitment campaigns. The Commissioner assures me that with a steady pipeline of recruits to the Garda College, recruitment will continue to meet the demands of the organisation.

There has been almost a 10% increase in the number of Garda members since 2015 when we really began recruiting again. The high level of interest in the recent recruitment campaign is somewhat encouraging. Almost 5,000 people applied to be a garda through the application process which closed in recent weeks. Less than 1% of Garda members resigned last year. I never gloss over that figure. We should always probe that, but it was less than 1%. We obviously live in a country with full employment. Between the 90 gardaí who entered Templemore in November, 133 in the first intake this year, 154 more last week and 50 more who have accepted places but prefer to go in later in the year we now have more than 400 gardaí in training in Templemore or indicating that they will begin their training this year, with further classes due to start in July, September and likely December.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I very much welcome the increased budget allocation. I accept that there has been an increase from 2015 to 2020. I know the Covid pandemic has been used for a number of reasons, some genuine and some perhaps not so. There seems to be an overemphasis on recruitment. As we both know, retention is the second side of that coin. Instead of just focusing on recruitment figures, we should probably look at what the net overall strength would be. I take the Minister’s point, which I welcome, that the overall goal is to reach at least 15,000. I am not sure if there is a timeline associated. The current strength is about 14,030 and that number fluctuates on a weekly basis. Does the Government have an indicative figure for the overall strength it would like An Garda Síochána to reach at the end of this year? Does it have a ballpark figure and, if not, is it something it might consider publishing?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The aim is to recruit 1,000 new gardaí this year. The exact net increase depends on a number of variables, such as how many people retire or resign from the Garda this year. The high-level target I have set is that by the end of this year, it will be the first year since the Covid pandemic that Garda numbers are back growing. This should be the first year that recruitment begins to outpace the number leaving An Garda Síochána. If the Deputy asked me to make my best guesstimate as to how we get to the 15,000, I would say a very decent recruitment campaign this year, followed by a decent recruitment campaign next year could get us there by the end of 2024. There are variables in that but if we were to recruit 1,000 gardaí this year, 1,000 next year and allow for the attrition retirements and resignations, it is in that ballpark.

The Deputy is right about the importance of retention. I accept that gardaí do an extremely hard job. I engage with and have respect for the Garda representative bodies. I take seriously what they say and we should always listen to them. I also have to take seriously the Garda Síochána cultural audit last year which found that job satisfaction was high among Garda personnel. That is part of the conversation that sometimes we do not get to hear. That independent survey showed that gardaí were proud to serve the communities, were motivated and wanted work to protect people from harm.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for that useful information. Most people would say that being a garda is not the job that it used to be. It is not as attractive a career as it was in the past. This relates to shift work, work-life balance and perhaps the lack of respect for gardaí among some members of the public. It is a more dangerous job. Post 2013 the paltry pension is a fraction of what their predecessors would have had and is having an effect.

I intend to be as constructive as possible. The Garda Reserve is a very underutilised pool of people. There are about 300 people in the Garda Reserve at the moment. It is an excellent tool for both recruitment and retention. People can test the water and if they like it, they can transfer to the regular service thereafter. It is also good for people with young families. A regular member of An Garda Síochána might be going through a very intense period at home for a couple of years, perhaps looking after an elderly parent and may wish to step back from the front-line Garda service for a couple of years. Is it possible to transfer from the regular service to the Garda Reserve just for a couple of years and then transfer back? If not, perhaps the Minister might consider that to improve retention.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will certainly take that away and look at it because I see the logic in what the Deputy is saying. The Garda Reserve has a very important role to play alongside growing Garda numbers, which we are now back growing with an annual recruitment campaign. Recruiting Garda staff is important. I have met many staff in Garda stations across this country in recent months. They are doing sterling work, core work, really important work, but work that frees up sworn members of An Garda Síochána to do front-line policing work.

I want to see a Garda Reserve recruitment campaign this year. Later this year, we intend to launch a new Garda Reserve recruitment campaign to get people who wish to be Garda reserves and support gardaí in their work. I accept that being a garda is an extraordinarily difficult job. Even the recent recruitment campaign did not try to suggest it was not. However, it is a job worth doing. It is an impactful job. It is a job in which someone can make a difference. I also accept it is a different job in many ways from what it was in the past with online social media, some threats gardaí face now and the intensity of the work. That is why it is so important that we have really good engagement and do everything we can to engage closely with Garda representative bodies and associations and listen to the views of gardaí. That is certainly what the Government will do.