Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the date for the next recruitment phase to An Garda Síochána; the number of personnel to be recruited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5077/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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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. To make this a reality for all, the Government has in place a plan to achieve an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians.

Taking account of projected retirements, reaching a strength of 15,000 will require some 3,200 new Garda members to be recruited on a phased basis over the next four years. This is in addition to the 1,200 that have been recruited to date since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014. Funding has been secured this year for 800 Garda recruits who will enter the College in groups of 200 with the first group to enter this month.

This recruitment target is an ambitious one and will require a continuous pipeline of suitable candidates. The most recent recruitment campaign launched by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) on behalf of the Commissioner in September of last year again received a strong response and it is expected that successful candidates will be called from this campaign this year and into next year. Iam advised, however, that a new competition will be required this year to ensure that recruitment is maintained at the required levels. The precise timing of that competition is under consideration by the Commissioner in conjunction with PAS and an announcement will be made in due course including on the PAS website (www.publicjobs.ie).