Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Gardaí that he expects to retire this year. [6009/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Members of An Garda Síochána may retire on a voluntary basis once they have reached 50 years of age and have accrued 30 years service. Members must retire on compulsory age grounds on reaching the age of 60.

In actual fact, most Gardaí take voluntary retirement ahead of their compulsory retirement age and it is not possible to predict with any certainty the number of Gardaí who will leave the Force during the course of any one year. There are approximately 1,450 Garda members who could retire in 2013 on full pension. However, there is no basis for expecting that all those who could retire will actually do so.

Equally it is difficult to establish an average figure for Garda retirements, particularly as the annual rate of retirements has been affected in the past by one-off factors such as the grace period which lasted until the end of February last year. While it would not be unreasonable, therefore, extrapolating from recent experience, to expect that retirements might range somewhere between 300 and 400, it is not possible to give a scientific estimate.

I have however, been informed by the Garda authorities that as of 1 February 2013, the number of Gardaí who have retired or declared their intention to retire during the course of 2013 is 58.