Joe McHugh
Question:504. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will indicate when recruitment to an Garda Síochána is likely to recommence. [18890/13]
View answerTuesday, 23 April 2013
Questions (504)
Written answers
I have made it quite clear on a number of occasions that my objective is to ensure that numbers will not fall below 13,000. I have also said that I intended to shortly bring proposals on this to Cabinet. Of course, if new members of the Force are to be recruited I have to ensure the funds exist to pay them. In this context, unfortunately, the situation that we now face is that there is currently no new agreement on public pay issues but there is still a projected €300 million budgetary shortfall in 2013. Accordingly, my bringing such proposals to Cabinet will obviously have to be delayed until such time as Government has had an opportunity to reflect on how we are to progress matters.