John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

209. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if applicant members of An Garda Síochána are required to have full Irish citizenship. [4788/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can inform the Deputy that admission to An Garda Síochána is governed by the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013 (SI 470 of 2013), which addresses the citizenship requirements for admission as a trainee to An Garda Síochána.

Under these regulations, a trainee must:

a) Be a national of a European Union Member State, or

b) Be a national of an European Economic Area State or the Swiss Confederation, or

c) Be a refugee under the Refugee Act, 1996, or

d)Have a period of one year's continuous residence in the State on the closing date of the advertisement for the competition for the vacancy to which the admission relates, and during the eight years immediately preceeding that period, has had a total residence in the State amounting to four years, or

e) Have been granted subsidiary protection/is a family member of such a person.

I can further inform the Deputy that these Regulations were recently amended by the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments)(Amendment) Regulations 2020 (SI 602 of 2020), which address admissibility issues arising as a result of Brexit and which now extend eligibility for admission as a Garda Trainee to citizens of the United Kingdom.