Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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502. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans for further recruitment to An Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35985/13]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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505. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if there are any plans to reopen recruitment to An Garda Síochána in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35999/13]

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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521. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to commence Garda recruitment again; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36234/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 502, 505 and 521 together.

I do believe that it is important for an organisation such as the Garda Síochána to have some regular intakes of new recruits, even if on a modest scale. In this context, I am very pleased to have received sanction from my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to hold a recruitment competition for An Garda Síochána. I will now make arrangements with the Public Appointments Service so that they can do the necessary preparatory work to deal with what is expected to be a very large number of applications later this year.