Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of people from ethnic minorities who have been recruited to the Garda Síochána; the number of people from ethnic minorities who have been recruited to the Garda reserve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20605/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that the number of persons from ethnic minorities recruited to An Garda Síochána is 4 with a further 21 members in training. I am also informed that there are 8 attested members of the Garda Reserve from ethnic minorities with a further 5 in training. There is an ongoing recruitment campaign in place for recruitment to An Garda Síochána and there are targeted campaigns aimed at recruiting people from ethnic minorities with advertisements in several different languages in ethnic newspapers. The language requirements were changed in 2005 so that the absolute requirement to have English and Irish prior to entry to the force was removed and replaced with a requirement to have two languages, one of which was Irish or English.