John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of recruits to An Garda Síochána and the number of recruits who dropped out, by district and by station, in 2015 and in 2016 to date. [15972/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware the Garda College reopened in September 2014 with the first intake of new recruits since the introduction of the moratorium in 2009. To date there have been seven intakes of Garda trainees, giving a total intake of 700, broken down as follows, 200 in 2014, 350 in 2015 and 150 so far this year. Three further in-takes are scheduled for the remainder of this year including later this month, and in September and November. This will bring the number of new recruits to 1,150 by the end of 2016. So far 463 of the new Garda trainees have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream uniform duties nationwide. Another 76 will attest on the 7 July with 150 more to attest in November. I have requested the specific information sought by the Deputy from the Garda Commissioner concerning the number of new recruits who have left An Garda Síochána and I will write directly to the Deputy when it is to hand.

This Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime. Key to achieving this goal is the commitment in the Programme for Government, "A Programme for a Partnership Government" tocontinue the ongoing accelerated Garda recruitment programme with a view to increasing Garda numbers to 15,000. Taking account of projected retirements, the current rate of recruitment will bring Garda numbers to around the 13,000 mark this year. We must, I believe, endeavour to make more rapid progress than this to reach our target of 15,000 and I am engaging with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, in relation to increasing the planned annual intake this year and in coming years.