Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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158. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí provided by Government since the enactment of the Police Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2015. [30487/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Appointments to the rank of Garda are a matter for the Garda Commissioner under section 14 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 in accordance with the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013. These Regulations provide that the number of persons to be admitted as trainees by reference to a particular competition is determined by the Commissioner with the consent of the Minister.

Since the enactment of the Garda Síochána (Police Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 on the 15 December 2015, 450 trainee Garda have been recruited, with a further 200 expected to enter the Garda College next month. This will bring to 1,200 the number of total number of trainee Garda recruited since the reopening of the College in September 2014. Since 15 December 2015, 238 trainee Garda have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream uniform duties nationwide; another 150 are due to attest later this year bringing the total number of new members of An Garda Síochána to 684 since the reopening of the College.

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. In furtherance of this I announced last week that the Government has approved my proposal for an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. In 2017, funding has been provided for the recruitment of 800 Garda recruits and up to 500 civilians to support the wide ranging reform plan in train in An Garda Síochána. Appointments will also be made to the Garda Reserve of approximately 300.

In order to continue to ensure seamless ongoing recruitment of trainee Gardaí I was very pleased to announce the commencement of a new recruitment campaign on last September. The campaign is being organised by the Public Appointments Service on behalf of the Garda Commissioner. The existing recruitment campaign (launched November 2015) is ongoing and successful candidates will continue to be called from that campaign this year and into next year. It is expected that successful candidates from the new campaign will enter the Garda College from mid-2017.