Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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145. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when the next recruitment will take place to An Garda Síochána; the number of persons it is proposed to recruit; if priority will be provided to those already prioritised under previous recruitment processes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26452/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that I have received sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for two further intakes of 125 Garda recruits later this year. The Public Appointments Service (PAS) is managing the recruitment process for the Garda Commissioner and I have no direct involvement in the matter.

The position in relation to the current competition is as follows. Following receipt of 24,000 applications, PAS invited candidates to complete Stage 1 of the competition which consisted of an assessment questionnaire and reasoning tests which were undertaken online. I understand that around 18,000 candidates completed this stage and fewer than 13,000 candidates reached a satisfactory standard. Those who did achieve a satisfactory standard were placed in three bands determined by their overall scores. 5,000 candidates (i.e. those in Band 1) were invited to take a subsequent series of tests and of that number, just over 3,000 were successful. To date the top 2,000 approximately from that group have been invited to supervised assessments and interviews.

I understand that PAS is continuing to progress Band 1 through the selection process and interviewing for that group will conclude in August. The names of candidates who qualify through these initial rounds will be forwarded to the Garda Commissioner for further consideration. Depending on the Commissioner's recruitment requirements, PAS will then move to those in Band 2 and possibly Band 3, if necessary.