Vol. 432 No. 5
13 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Justice her views on whether the provision of relatively young age limits for recruitment to either the Garda Síochána or the prison service is discriminatory; the steps, if any, she intends to take to ensure that such limits do not apply in future; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
The age requirements for recruitment vary slightly as between the Garda Síochána and the Prison Service. An age requirement of between 18 and 26 years applies in the case of the Garda Síochána with the possibility of recruitment up to age 30 in certain circumstances. The age requirement for recruitment to the Prison Service is 19 to 30 years.
The Deputy's question is whether these requirements discriminate against older people. They obviously do, as indeed does any age limit which, by definition, excludes applicants above the limit. The question, however, is whether limits are nevertheless justifiable. The practical reality is that, given the nature of these particular employments, the requirement is that people recruited at basic officer grade should be sufficiently fit and healthy in order to meet the challenges they face in their day-to-day work. While health and fitness is not the preserve of any age group, it is generally accepted that by and large those possessing these attributes and expected to possess them for the longest period are more likely to be found in younger rather than older age groups.
In this connection it is worth mentioning that the Walsh Committee report on Garda Probationer Training in 1986 recommended that the age limits should stand. The Whitaker Committee, on the other hand, favoured an extension of both the lower and upper age limits in the case of prison officers.
The availability of older staff members is, of course, vital to the successful operation of both services. It is in the nature of things that people of more mature years tend to occupy the supervisory and management positions. However, a sizeable number of older members also occupy basic grade posts in both services and make an invaluable contribution towards their effective operation. There are sufficient people in the older age groups both in the Garda Síochána and the Prison Service to ensure that both services operate to maximum efficiency and that the right balance between youth and maturity is maintained. The requirement in both cases is that we continue to recruit enough young people to keep this balance right and form the nucleus of future top management.
Age limits are not, of course, written on tablets of stone — and in this connection I am conscious of the provision at Appendix B of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress— but it is highly unlikely that the removal of age limits in the case of the Garda Síochána or Prison Service would significantly alter the actual pattern of recruitment to either service for the practical reasons I have mentioned earlier.
The fact that such a different age limit obtains, 26 in one case and 30 in the other, indicates the type of discrepancy and nonsense about which I am speaking. Although generally it may be the case that younger people would be recruited — I revert to my comments on the last question — in that they would have more energy and so on, would the Minister accept that to exclude somebody of 27 from the Garda Síochána or somebody of 31 from the Prison Service on all occasions is wrong? Indeed, there are some good people we could recruit to both services if we were to remove the upper age limit, leaving it up to the interview boards to take decisions in given circumstances. Given what I have said and the fact that she agreed that these age limits should not be written in tablets of stone, will the Minister agree to have those age limits reviewed without necessarily committing herself to anything?
Certainly, I can agree to that suggestion. In relation to the Garda Síochána I am guided very much by the Walsh Committee report on Garda Probationer Training of 1986, which recommended that the age limits should stand. But it is important to point out in regard to the Garda Síochána that from the time a person is accepted as a recruit three years can elapse before that person actually gains access to the Garda Training College. Therefore, there is, if you like, an age limit gap which applies at that time. Certainly those age limits are not written in tablets of stone and, without giving any commitment to change them, I will examine them.
