Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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118. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to abolish the upper age limit for persons wishing to join An Garda Síochána; her views on the fact that the force may be missing out on highly qualified and experienced recruits as a result of this ageist recruitment policy; if she will consider following the PSNI recruitment policy on this that sets a limit of 57 years of age for new recruits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24163/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, recruitment to An Garda Síochána is governed by the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013 and the recruitment and training of An Garda Síochána is a matter for the Garda Commissioner, and I as Minister have no direct role in the matter.

Recruitment competitions for full time members of An Garda Síochána are open to all who meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013.

Regulation 4 (a) specifies that the age at which a person may apply to join An Garda Síochána as a full time member is not more than 35 years.

This upper age limit of 35 was set having regard to equality legislation and also took into account the following criteria:

(1) the cost of training and the need for recruits to serve for a sufficient period of time as full members of the service to recoup this cost,

(2)the operational requirements of the service in terms of having an age profile appropriate to the physical demands placed on members in the course of their duty.

There are currently no plans to review this Regulation.