Written answers

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Department of Justice and Equality

Garda Retirements

Photo of Eric ByrneEric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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293. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will alleviate the pressure on the Garda Síochána by temporarily allowing serving gardaí who are due to retire the option of extending their service by an additional two years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2190/16]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Retirement of members of An Garda Síochána is governed by statutory provisions which set the mandatory retirement age for all members at 60 years of age. Members of An Garda Síochána who joined the organisation prior to 1 April 2004 may retire on full pension once they have served for at least 30 years and they have reached 50 years of age. Members of An Garda Síochána who joined the organisation on or after 1 April 2004 may retire on full pension once they have served at least 30 years and have reached 55 years of age. Accordingly a member has the option of continuing to serve until they reach 60 years of age. I have no plans to extend the mandatory retirement age at this time.

The Deputy may wish to be aware that there is no barrier to retired members joining the Garda Reserve once they meet certain eligibility criteria, including being under 60 years of age and having an 'exemplary', 'very good' or 'good' discharge from the Garda Síochána.

I can assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the capacity to provide effective and visible policing throughout the country. A crucial element of the Government's strategy is ensuring ongoing seamless recruitment to renew An Garda Síochána. With this in mind Budget 2016 made provision for the recruitment of 600 new Gardaí this year bringing to 1,150 the number of new Gardaí who will have been recruited since the reopening of the Garda College in Templemore in September 2014. So far 295 of these new recruits have been fully attested and are undertaking Garda duties in communities nationwide. I am assured by Garda management that the needs of all Garda Divisions are fully considered when determining the allocation of newly attested Gardaí.

I am very pleased that the 2016 recruitment campaign announced last November, and which closed on 6 January, has attracted strong interest with in the region of 16,500 applications received by the Public Appointments Service which is organising the competition on behalf of the Garda Commissioner.

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