John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 403: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to use section 122 ([i]d[/i]) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to allow members of other police forces to become members of the Garda Síochána; if he intends recognising training received in such other police forces as satisfying the training requirements of entry to the Garda Síochána (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7814/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Section 122(1)(d) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 provides that the Minister may, after consulting the Garda Commissioner and with the approval of the Government, make regulations governing the admission, appointment and enrolment of members, including members who have served with other police services and members with different ethnic or national origins or different religious reliefs or backgrounds. While I have no immediate plans to make regulations in this regard, I will keep the need for such regulations under review.

The Deputy will be aware, however, of the changes to the criteria for admission as a Garda Síochána trainee for which I secured Government approval. These changes were made under the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 and 2005, respectively. In 2004 I increased the maximum age of applicants from 26 to 35 in time for the recruitment competition in November 2004. In 2005, following a period of through consultation with the Commissioner and other stakeholders, I secured Government approval for a number of important changes aimed at facilitating recruitment from different ethnic backgrounds in our society. Key among these was that the requirement to hold a qualification in both Irish and English in the leaving certificate or equivalent was replaced with a requirement to hold such a qualification in two languages, at least one of which must be Irish or English. A new nationality or residency requirement was also introduced. While there was previously no such explicit requirement, the need to have a qualification in Irish had effectively limited entry to the Garda Síochána to Irish citizens.

Admission as a trainee is now open to nationals of an EU member state, an EEA state or the Swiss Confederation, and nationals of any other state who are lawfully present in Ireland and have five years' lawful residence here. These changes have opened up entry to the Garda Síochána to persons in Ireland from all parts of the community and from all ethnic backgrounds. This is a hugely significant step which will help ensure that future intakes of recruits to the Garda Síochána reflect the composition of society to the benefit of the force and the people it serves.

The categories of persons whom the Commissioner may appoint directly to the force without having regard to the age, educational, residency or training requirements under the regulations were widened from persons with "special technical qualifications" to persons with "special aptitudes, knowledge, skills or technical qualifications". The purpose of this is to enable the Commissioner, where he has identified a need that cannot be met from within the force, to recruit new members with specialist skills, for example, in languages, to enhance the capacity of the Garda Síochána to respond to the challenges of modern policing.