Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that I am committed to ensuring that we not just have the required number of gardaí, but that they have the resources they need to protect us and themselves in order that Ireland is a safe and secure country. In 2024, I have provided a budget allocation of €2.35 billion to An Garda Síochána, an increase of 25% since 2020. This will allow for the recruitment of between 800 and 1,000 new garda recruits this year, with an ambition of between 200 and 250 per class. We had five intakes last year. This year, we will only have four. If, therefore, we want to reach the higher end of our target, we will need between 200 and 250 recruits per class. An intake will be starting in April. I can see that the figures coming down the line are positive.

At the end of December, there were just under 14,000 serving gardaí. This represented an increase of approximately 9% since 2015 when there were 12,816. The number of recruits in the college continues to increase year on year. Last year, 746 trainees entered the college. This was the highest intake we had had since 2018, which was well before Covid, and a sixfold increase on the year before that.

As the Deputy will be aware, we have had a new Garda recruitment campaign for the third year running. It opened in January and closed on 8 February. I am delighted to note that just under 6,400 applications were received. The previous competition saw approximately 5,000, so this is another increase. Of this year’s applications, 32% came from women, which is a higher level than the current figure of 28% for female gardaí, so that is another positive. Almost 40% of applicants were over-35s. We opened up the competition to older recruits and I am delighted that so many have taken the decision to join the Garda. It is particularly positive that the number of women applying remains above 28%, which I am advised is also above the European average. More work is being done to try to encourage even more female recruits. Going into the breakdown a little further, 73% identified as white Irish and 27% were of various new communities, which is positive. We are seeing this increase in every intake.

I strongly encourage the prospective recruits to start their preparation for the next stages of the competition, which is often where people fall down. I want as many of the 6,300 to get through and become gardaí as possible.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Of the 6,300 who recently applied.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right, in that the figures show that many gardaí from recent intakes have gone to Dublin, particularly when there has been a greater need. What we do not see in those figures is that transfers are now taking place, with some gardaí based in Dublin transferring out to other counties. The figures show one or two going directly from Templemore to those counties, but I understand that transfers have started to open up. This is positive. The more gardaí we have, the more we can have that flexibility within the organisation.

The Deputy asked about attestation. I did not get to that. Currently, three classes are in training in the college. They entered last year and are expected to attest in March, June and September of this year. The class that starts in April will attest next year. I expect that the number attesting this year will be between 600 and 700, but if we can get more starting in the intakes this year, we will likely see between 800 and 1,000 attestations next year. Attestations run a year behind new classes. Overall, the trend is moving in a positive direction. Numbers in our classes are increasing. That we had 6,300 apply in the recent campaign shows it is a profession of which people want to be a part.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We always said that there would be five classes last year. The first class was slightly earlier than this year's class. While the December class came out a few weeks earlier, that was to ensure that we had a presence. It was always going to be before the end of the year, though. There were always going to be the five intakes, and we had factored that in from the beginning of the year. Starting this year, because the first new intake will not be until April, it will not be physically possible to have five intakes. There will be four this year. Given how that feeds into the timelines, though, there is the potential for five classes again next year.

On the Garda Reserve, I was able to bring the new regulations to the Cabinet on Tuesday. They have been worked on for some time between my Department, the Garda and others. I anticipate that we will open up a new campaign in a matter of weeks. I want to see as many people joining as possible. I need to ensure that the structures in place for carrying out the competitions, which are also still conducting the competitions for the recent Garda recruitment campaign, have the capacity to do that, but it is my ambition that those competitions will open in a matter of weeks. The Garda Reserve does great work. It supplements and supports the work of the Garda and creates the visibility that the Deputy mentioned in our towns and elsewhere across the country.