Jonathan O'Brien
Question:89. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to ensure that recruitment to An Garda Síochana matches the pace of retirement. [14315/16]
View answerWednesday, 8 June 2016
Questions (89)
Written answers
This Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime. Key to achieving this goal is the commitment in the Programme for Government, "A Programme for a Partnership Government" to continue the ongoing accelerated Garda recruitment programme with a view to increasing Garda numbers to 15,000.
As the Deputy will be aware, when the financial crisis hit, the Government of the time introduced a moratorium on recruitment and the four year National Recovery Plan, published in 2010, envisaged a steady reduction in Garda numbers. Thankfully, in a recovering economy, we were able to reopen the Garda College in September 2014. Since then a total of 700 Garda trainees have been recruited with a further 450 planned to be recruited during the remainder of this year. So far 463 of the new Garda trainees have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream uniform duties nationwide. Another 76 will attest on the 7 July with a further 150 to attest by the end of this year.
I can assure the Deputy that projected departures from An Garda Síochána are kept under continuing review and the level of recruitment adjusted as necessary in order to achieve the desired strength of An Garda Síochána. I am advised, based on a thorough analysis of the data, that the Garda authorities project retirements overall this year to be around the 300 mark with similar projections for the coming years. Taking account of the projected retirements for this year and the number of new recruits who will attest I expect Garda numbers to reach the 13,000 mark by the end of this year. We must, I believe, endeavour to make more rapid progress than this to reach our target of 15,000 and I am engaging with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, in relation to increasing the planned annual intake this year and in coming years.