Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the 2,000 extra gardaí promised in the programme for Government will be on the streets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29713/05]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 159: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the exact number of gardaí recruited and trained out of the total of the 2,000 extra gardaí promised in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29983/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 159 together.

The Deputy will be aware that in October 2004 the Government approved my proposal to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members on a phased basis, in line with the An Agreed Programme for Government commitment in this regard. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government and its implementation will significantly strengthen the operational capacity of the force.

As part of the accelerated recruitment campaign to facilitate this process, it is intended to induct 1,100 Garda recruits this year and for the next two years, by way of intakes to the Garda College of approximately 275 recruits every quarter. This will lead to a combined strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of 2006. I should add that this accelerated recruitment process is fully on target. The first three quarterly intakes of approximately 275 recruits in 2005 have taken place on schedule, with the fourth intake due to commence training on 7 November 2005.

Achieving this level of recruitment has required a significant expansion in the capacity of the college and a major new administration building is being constructed to facilitate this. This project is on schedule and will be completed before the end of this year. In addition to the significant expansion in the capacity of the college which is underway, in-service training courses transferred to an outsourced centre at the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, in April of this year, allowing the Garda College to concentrate on recruitment training.

This major recruitment drive has also been accompanied by significant changes to the entry requirements for the Garda Síochána. In advance of last year's recruitment competition, I raised the maximum age for applicants from 26 to 35 and quite a number of successful applicants have come from within the extended age range. Prior to the current recruitment competition, I made further and significant changes to the entry criteria with a view to removing barriers to entry from Ireland's growing multinational communities. Key among these is that the requirement to hold a qualification in both Irish and English in the leaving certificate or equivalent has been replaced by a requirement to hold a qualification in two languages, at least one of which must be Irish or English.

These new changes will open up entry to the Garda Síochána to persons in Ireland from all parts of the community and from all ethnic backgrounds. This is a highly significant step towards ensuring that future intakes of recruits to the Garda Síochána will reflect the composition of modern Irish society, to the benefit of the force and the people it serves.