Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

474. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality in terms of the recruitment of new members to An Garda Síochána, if provisions are in place to ensure that any intake will include a quota of personnel capable of conducting duties through the medium of Irish, which is essential in Gaeltacht areas across the country in recognition of the Government's commitments under the 20-year strategy on the Irish language. [6915/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have been informed by the Garda Commissioner that An Garda Síochána are fully committed to fulfilling their obligations under the Official Languages Act. In this regard, fluent Irish speakers, who also fulfil all other eligibility criteria, will be assessed under a specialist Irish language stream in the current recruitment campaign. Successful candidates from the stream will be allocated to Gaeltacht areas for a period of time as determined by the Garda Commissioner.

It is intended that the first intake of new Garda trainees, who have successfully completed all stages of the recruitment competition, will enter the Garda College in the middle of this year.