Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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171. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 533 of 20 October 2020, the status of the reply given that no correspondence has been received in relation to the matter. [12283/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is responsible, by law, for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána including recruitment and human resources matters, and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter.

The Deputy has requested statistical information for each of the years 2018 to 2021 in relation to -

1. New recruits, actual and projected

2. Graduating recruits, actual and projected

3. Retirements/departures from service, actual and projected

4. Overall Garda force numbers, actual and projected

5. Overall civilian staff numbers, actual and projected

The Garda Commissioner has informed me that the following table shows the number of Garda recruits and additional members of Garda staff (civilians) provided for in each Budget from 2018 to 2021:

*Budget 2021 provided for the recruitment of up to 650 Gardaí this year, in addition to 500 Garda staff. The Justice Plan 2021, which I recently published, also commits to further redeployment of Gardaí to front line policing work, with a target of 400 redeployments to achieved in 2021.

In relation to Garda recruits, the Deputy will appreciate that these numbers have been affected by the COVID-19 restrictions and the subsequent impact in relation to education and accommodation facilities at the Garda College.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that it is currently anticipated that An Garda Síochána will be in a position to take in 450 new Trainees over the course of 2021, however these plans will be kept under review in light of the situation which may be in place with regard to COVID-19 restrictions.

The table below shows the actual numbers for the figures requested for the years 2018, 2019 and as at 30 September 2020:

I have asked the Garda authorities for the final statistics for 2020 and projections for 2021 and I will forward this information to you when it becomes available.