Vol. 294 No. 7
asked the Minister for Justice if intending applicants for admission to the Garda Síochána during the past 12 months have been given leaflets at local Garda stations concerning conditions of entry which specify that holders of leaving certificates with passes in Irish and English would be exempt from the entrance examination for admission to the force.
4.
andMr. Leonard asked the Minister for Justice the number of applicants for entrance to the Garda Síochána who have exemption by virtue of the leaving certificate.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.
In case of any misunderstanding, may I first of all say that the last recruitment of gardaí—apart from recruitment of candidates for the Garda Band, or other specialised purposes— was based on a competition held in May, 1974, the closing date for which was 15th March, 1974. Holders of the leaving certificate were exempt from that examination but they were nevertheless subject to the requirement that their applications should be in by 15th March, 1974. All leaving certificate holders who applied before that date and who were qualified as regards age, height, and so on, have since been offered appointment.
Prospective applicants for admission to the force, whether holding the leaving certificate or not, who applied subsequent to 15th March, 1974, were informed that their applications would be considered whenever the next entrance competition would be announced. Meanwhile they were given information as regards the regulations then in force. This of course involved no commitment that the regulations would not be changed, as they have been at times in the past.
The next competition, due to be held shortly, has not yet been advertised. Nevertheless, already the Garda authorities have on hands applications from over 1,600 persons with the leaving certificate as well as over 1,200 persons without the leaving certificate. It is reasonable to expect that when the competition is advertised there will be a significant further number of applications. Accordingly, the present regulations must be changed; there is no choice in the matter. Even if one could disregard altogether the equitable claims of those who have not a leaving certificate it would be essential to apply an equitable and generally acceptable method of placing in order of merit the leaving certificate holders since there may be three or more such applicants for every vacancy. In practical terms, in present circumstances that means that they must be required to do a competitive examination. I emphasise that this would be so even if only the leaving certificate holders were to be considered.
In fact, however, entrance to the Garda Síochána has never been confined to leaving certificate holders and it would be a serious injustice to the many applicants who have looked forward to competing for places in the Garda Síochána, and who have studied with that in view, were they to be denied the opportunity to do so when vacancies are being announced.
Since a selection process must be applied in relation to leaving certificate holders and also to non-holders of that certificate, the obviously fair system at this stage is that they should all do the same competition which will be conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners.
There may be other possible systems, such as one that accorded marks or points for different grades in, say, the leaving certificate but any such system presents its own difficulties and in any event would certainly be open to the charge of being arbitrary and highly unfair if introduced without an announcement being made well in advance.
I have already indicated in a public statement that the matter will be further studied in the context of future recruitment—I would stress that I say "studied" and I am not implying that changes will necessarily be made—but, for this next competition at all events, I am fully satisfied not only that what is proposed is fair and equitable to all but that it is the only system that can be used at this juncture that would be fair and equitable. The examination itself will, I am assured, be carefully designed to be a test fair to the general body of candidates and will not, for instance, be geared to particular texts which would give any group an unfair advantage.
I ought perhaps to emphasise, since some people appear to be unaware of the fact, that provided a candidate is acceptable as far as age, height and so on are concerned, entry will be strictly on merit as ascertained by the Civil Service Commissioners in the examination they will conduct. Furthermore successful candidates will be called in the order in which they are placed in the examination.
Can the Minister say when he decided not to allow exemptions in Irish and English to intending applicants who had been successful in these subjects in the leaving certificate?
I have not the precise date of the decision but it was arrived at recently. Matters such as these take the form of internal discussion in the Department between my officials, the Garda authorities, the Civil Service Commissioners and myself but if the Deputy wishes to have the exact date on which the decision was taken, I can ascertain it for him.
To say the least, I am surprised that the Minister is not in a position to give us the date on which the decision was taken.
I can obtain that information for the Deputy.
I should be glad if the Minister would do that because he must be aware that this decision has an important bearing on the question of recruiting 500 extra men into the force. The Minister is aware, too, that practically all those 2,800 young men who are interested in joining the force were issued with leaflets which stated specifically that the procedure in the past has been to allow exemptions in Irish and English to those holding the leaving certificate. Naturally, these people understood that this exemption would apply to the current recruiting campaign.
I have dealt with that question in my reply.
Can the Minister say why those people were not told earlier of the changed situation?
They have now been informed through the medium of the public Press that exemptions will not be given to leaving certificate holders.
Is it not unfair to those 1,600 men who have been under the impression that because they held the leaving certificate they would be exempt from taking the examination in Irish and English that they find now that they must sit the examination in competition with those who have just left school and who, consequently, would probably have a better chance of success?
I would not agree that the changed situation is unfair to those people. As I said, there are also 1,200 applicants who do not hold a leaving certificate but who have expectations of joining the police force. It would be unfair to those people to exclude them and to accept applications only from leaving certificate holders. As I indicated already, the examination to be set will be a fair and equitable test for all applicants.
Can the Minister say when the examination will be set, when the competition will take place and when we can hope to see the first batch of these 500 new recruits begin their training in Templemore?
I should hope that the first batch will be called for training as early as possible next spring. I cannot say on what date the examination will be held but I understand that it will be early in the new year. This is a matter for the Civil Service Commission.
It would have been over by now if the commissioners had been given the go-ahead but the Government have done nothing in this direction since the announcement of June last.
I regret that this recruitment has not proceeded more speedily. The Deputy seems to be endeavouring to make the point that there is some lack of desire on the part of the Government to increase the force as announced but as I have indicated the force has increased by 900 during the past three years.
Will the Minister not agree that there is an urgent need for the additional 500 men which the Government talked about last June?
I agree.
5.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of Garda recruits that can be accommodated at Templemore Garda Training Centre; the length of the training period; and if, having regard to the time which will elapse before all these recruits are fully qualified for service in the force, he will state the net effect the intake will have on the total strengh, taking normal wastage into account.
The net effect of the decision to increase the strength of the force will be that 500 extra gardaí will be added to the ranks, that is, 500 over and above what will be needed to offset wastage, and that, accordingly, the strength of the force will be approximately 9,000 as compared with the present strength of approximately 8,500. About 200 Garda recruits can be accommodated at the Garda Training Centre, Templemore, and the training period is 22 weeks. Normal wastage will, of course, continue during the period when recruits are being trained and while it is not possible to forecast with accuracy when the force will reach the new strength of just over 9,000, it would appear that it will do so in about 18 months from the time the first batch of recruits begin their training.
