The selection criteria for the recruitment of Garda trainees are prescribed by regulation and are reviewed on an ongoing basis by my Department. With regard to the requirement for leaving certificate Irish, this element of the minimum educational qualifications was last reviewed and revised in 1997 following a significant restructuring of the leaving certificate programme and the introduction of Irish at foundation level for leaving certificate students. There are no plans to abolish Irish or make it an optional requirement for Garda recruitment. Members of the Garda Síochána are required to provide a broad and increasing range of services to all sections of society and may be called upon at any time to communicate with the public in Irish, either orally or in writing.
Persons originally from Northern Ireland are not precluded from sitting the leaving certificate. Furthermore, qualifications in Irish in an examination other than the leaving certificate may be recognised where such other examination is of a standard not lower than the standard of the leaving certificate examinations of the Department of Education.
In the 1999 Garda recruitment competition two applicants requested the Irish version of the application form and in the 1998 competition four applicants requested the Irish version. I have been advised by the Garda authorities that as they do not record the religion of applicants, the number of Protestant members in the Garda Síochána is not available.
