Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1206. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to report on the current Garda staffing numbers as of 17 February 2025 at Dundrum, Stepaside and Cabinteely stations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12567/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business under Section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), including the recruitment and training of Garda members and staff. Under Section 33 of the Act, the Commissioner is responsible for the distribution and stationing of the Garda Síochána throughout the State. As Minister, I play no role in these independent functions.

There are almost 18,000 Garda members, staff and reserve within the Garda organisation and the Government is committed to seeing these numbers grow. 149 Probationer Gardaí attested on 7 March and have been assigned to operational duties in Garda stations across the State. This includes 98 Probationers assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

Another 201 trainee Gardaí entered Templemore on 10 March, the largest intake since the lifting of public health restrictions.

Over €2.4 billion has been allocated to the Garda budget in 2025 and this funding will provide for further recruitment of Garda members and staff. This year's Garda recruitment campaign closed at the end of February with over 6,700 applicants seeking to join the service.

In the interest of transparency, figures related to the Garda workforce are published on my Department's website. This information is supplied by An Garda Síochána, is operational and subject to change. These figures are regularly updated by my Department, upon receipt of the information from the Garda authorities.

www.gov.ie/en/publication/bd777-an-garda-siochana-your-police-service-some-facts-and-figures/.

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1207. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to report on the efforts of officials within his Department to encourage the recruitment of new Gardai; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12568/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities, and strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of that. We will continue to provide An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe, including to invest in recruitment, in equipment and technology and in buildings. This is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.48 billion to An Garda Síochána in Budget 2025, a 27% increase since 2020. This funding allows for the continued recruitment of Garda members and staff.

The overall Garda workforce, which includes Gardaí, civilian staff and Reserves currently stands at almost 18,000.

My first priority as Minister for Justice is to get more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment.

Significant measures have been made in recent years to boost recruitment including increasing the Garda trainee allowance to €354 per week; the age of entry has increased from 35 to 50; and the mandatory retirement age has been raised to 62.

We can see clearly that there is strong interest in a career in An Garda Síochána. In February the latest recruitment competition took place. It attracted just over 6,700 applicants, This builds on the 5,000 applications which were received in 2023 and the almost 6,400 last year. I would like to commend publicjobs and An Garda Síochána for the innovative and creative recruitment campaign they ran which has resulted in such strong interest.

Last week, we saw 201 trainee Gardaí enter Templemore. This is the largest intake since 2019. It is also the first of four intakes for 2025. I am committed to working with the Garda Commissioner to explore ways of increasing the number of trainees who enter Templemore.

The Programme for Government commits to examining a range of further measures to enable An Garda Síochána recruit 5,000 members across the next five years, and I have already had initial conversations with the Commissioner about how that might be achieved.

A Recruitment and Training Capacity Group has been established, chaired by my Department, to support the achievement of increased recruitment and ensure that these recruitment campaigns are impactful. The Group will keep me informed on actions being taken to maximise future intakes and to ensure recruitment can be as effective as possible. The Group will also provide a final report to me by the summer which I expect will include further measures to support recruitment and retention.