Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the projected number of trainees who will begin training and will attest through Garda training for this calendar year and if any changes to the training are proposed. [17368/24]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Will there be any changes to the number of trainees or the training model proposed? Could the Minister let me know the projected number of trainees who will begin in Templemore for Garda training in this calendar year?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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This year, I have provided a budget allocation of over €2.35 billion to An Garda Síochána. This is a 25% increase on 2020 and will allow for the sustained recruitment of Garda recruits in 2024. I have taken a number of measures to support increased recruitment into An Garda Síochána. This includes a 66% increase in the training allowance and increasing the age of entry from 35 to 50. The Government has also agreed to increase the mandatory retirement age for Garda members from 60 to 62. I will be bringing forward legislation on that very shortly. Recruitment is now gathering real momentum and the number of recruits in the Garda training college continue to increase. A total of 746 trainees entered the college in 2023. That was the highest intake in any year since 2018.

There are currently three classes in training in the Garda College, two having entered in 2023 and one earlier this month. These trainees are expected to attest in June, September and December. Based on the current numbers, indications are that between 600 and 700 new gardaí will attest this year. That is based on the figures from last year.

As the Deputy knows, the Garda College was closed to new recruits during Covid and it is only since the pandemic restrictions were lifted that recruitment has fully resumed. While Templemore did not fully close during the pandemic, and we are very grateful to the members and trainees there who persisted with their training, recruitment of new members into the organisation was curtailed. A total of 185 new recruits entered the college earlier this month, the first class of 2024. This represents the highest intake since Covid. Three further intakes are planned for July, September and December of this year. Based on the number of applicants and the numbers targeted for the coming intakes, it is envisaged that attestations will increase to between 800 and 1,000 in 2025. It is anticipated that the number of Garda members will begin to grow steadily throughout 2024. I expect the number of Garda members to grow during 2024 until we can reach the target of 15,000 and then move beyond.

The Government has agreed to take all necessary steps to support recruitment into An Garda Síochána. To that end, my Department is working with Garda management and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in relation to further measures to address the issues of recruitment and retention. We are continuing to work on mitigating various resourcing challenges, including but not limited to actions such as the establishment of the Garda training steering group.

Insofar as recruit training is concerned, there are no immediate plans to change the current programme. Templemore is linked closely with the University of Limerick in compliance with the Education and Training Act and both institutions operate institutional-level quality assurance systems. However, as I have said previously, nothing is off the table in terms of potential future changes.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I hear what the Minister is saying with regard to approaching the figure of 15,000.

As the Minister knows, the Joint Committee on Justice went to Templemore. Apart from the number attesting, there are about 140 postgraduates undertaking courses there. It has been mentioned to me in passing that Templemore is stuck for space and it is seeking to obtain other venues to carry out more specialised training. Has the college ever considered, in order to accelerate the numbers in a quicker way, opening up another training facility to attest gardaí or else to undertake more of the hybrid training model that we saw to some extent during Covid?

Gardaí are telling me that they feel stretched. For example, County Kerry is down 20 gardaí on the position prior to Covid and they are stretched in trying to maintain the level of service they had then. In February, the available strength was 13,748, which has decreased since December 2010, when it was 14,377.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The issue to date has not been space. The classes have been incrementally moving upwards and the most recent class of 186 is the highest we have had, so it is not the case that we do not have enough space in Templemore. In the last year or two, it has actually been about gathering the momentum so we can get to the point where we are nearly reaching the figure of 200 and beyond. That is not to say we are not looking at other options, and that could potentially include training on another site, different types of hybrid training and different elements of the course being done elsewhere. Given the fact we work with the University of Limerick and this is an institutional level quality assurance system, it is important that we do not dilute or change that in any way, shape or form. This is what the Garda training steering group is looking at with regard to whether there are other options that we have not been using to increase the overall number.

To date, it has not been the lack of space that has curtailed us. It has been getting us to the point where those high numbers are starting to come through the PAS process. It is a question of passing all of the different stages and the fitness tests in the higher numbers that we have had to date. However, we still need to look at potentially expanding our scope, which is what we are doing now.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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What is coming down the tracks is that the large cohort of gardaí who attested in the early 1990s will be coming to the end of their natural cycle of employment. There are also the resignations and other retirements that are coming up. It is difficult when the maximum going through is 600 to 700 this year and was 700 last year. To increase to 15,000 may be on the horizon but to increase it more in order to keep pace with the level of population increase is going to be very difficult for any government to achieve. That is why another training centre could be considered.

There is one final question regarding the Garda Reserve, which is an issue that we have spoken about before. Has the recruitment campaign started to try to achieve greater visibility of gardaí on the streets?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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There are a number of things that we need to do here. I have referenced some of them, for example, increasing the age at which people can apply so we have even more applying; making sure that those who want to stay on can do so, which is why increasing the retirement age is very important; and making sure that those who want to become members but potentially cannot do so because of the financial cost see an increase in the availability allowance. This is something we need to look at again coming up to this year's budget. It is also about making sure that we have the space when we need it. This is why the Garda training steering group will be looking at whether there are other measures that we need to address with regard to hybrid training and whether having another venue would potentially encourage people who are further away from Templemore to go to the college, particularly if it was closer to them.

All of these things are being worked through, as well as other measures, with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to see if we can address some of the issues that gardaí have raised. We need to make sure there is no reason for people to leave that we cannot address. The exit interviews and the strategies that we are applying post the exit interviews are to make sure that where people have raised concerns, we are addressing them in a multitude of different ways. There is no one solution here; there are many different things.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is not ruling out another venue.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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No, I would not rule out another venue.