Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 October 2022
3. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties in recruitment and retention in An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52718/22]
View answerThe Minister referred to the difficulties in respect of recruitment for the Garda in her response to the previous question. That needs to be addressed. The increase in our population, according to the most recent census, tells us the numbers of gardaí and the civilian capacity of the Garda need to be increased. Many gardaí on the ground are telling me that many people are leaving and going off to other jobs. It is difficult to retain people. I recently met the Commissioner who confirmed that. It is a difficult situation. In many cases, gardaí are recruited but only remain in the force for a short period before going off to other positions.
I thank the Deputy. The role played by members of An Garda Síochána is undoubtedly a challenging and sometimes dangerous one, as I have stressed many times this year. Gardaí leave their homes, families and communities every morning to put themselves in danger. We must acknowledge that. They often encounter adversarial circumstances in their day-to-day work, which can be dispiriting and difficult.
Our communities are well supported by the Garda, which they appreciate. It is important to stress that while there are challenges, the Garda is held in high regard and has the support of all members of the community. That is particularly clear this year, as we mark 100 years of An Garda Síochána. The centenary has given me the opportunity to engage with and meet many different people throughout the country.
I have been struck by the huge amount of pride that there is not just among present members but among past members and indeed in our community about the achievements of An Garda Síochána. It has given us a chance to reflect on the challenges of the last 100 years but also to look at where we are going and how we can address some of the issues that the Deputy has outlined and the challenges that the gardaí themselves face.
There are a number of initiatives that we have put in place which might seem like small things but are important in the grand scheme of things. We put in place a new Garda uniform this year because it is important that the gardaí are comfortable when they are going about and doing their work and are not working in uniforms that are outdated. We have had the expansion of the mobility devices for the frontline. This is to make sure that when gardaí are doing their work they do not have to go back to the station for every single thing they have to input into the system, which makes it more efficient and effective for them. We have a Garda well-being app which is being developed. I meet with the various different representative groups and this is something that continually comes up, whether it is the Garda Representative Association, GRA, or the chiefs and supers making sure there is that support and mental health support for individuals, together with better internal communications and more transparent promotion processes. All these things help to create a better work environment. Of course, it is extremely important to make sure we have more gardaí to take the pressure off those who are under huge pressure at the moment, as is making sure they have the resources such as cars and appropriate Garda stations. There is much work ongoing. I am not saying that it is not a difficult environment to work in, but we need to keep doing what we can to support them.
I met with the Garda Commissioner recently and, of the number of issues he outlined to me, one was that we have two economies in this country. We have an international economy whereby people are in very high paid positions in the various technological companies. Many of the gardaí being recruited have skills and we need those skills to deal with cybercrime and all these areas. They get trained in An Garda Síochána and then they go off to work for some of these multinational corporations on a higher salary. That is one of the problems that needs to be to be dealt with. I am not sure how it can be dealt with, but it is one of the real issues that needs to be looked at.
The Minister also mentioned the difficult work environment and the often aggressive attitude that many gardaí have to face and of course we recognise that. We also have a difficulty whereby many members of An Garda Síochána are stationed very far away from their home base and, when they look to return closer to home for family reasons, or to be nearer to family or to the places where they grew up, they find it difficult to do that. That is a harsh regime that is in place. I could probably count 50 gardaí who have contacted me in recent months who are stationed far away from where they live or from where their family come from and they want to get transferred back closer to there. That is a real issue that is having a detrimental effect and it means that they will decide to leave the force if they cannot get transfers.
The Deputy touched on a number of issues. Our gardaí are highly skilled and they are sought in many different fields, as the Deputy said. As we move to a situation where we have specific teams and units, such as in the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, fraud or domestic violence, they become more skilled and expert in their area and it is only natural that people will try to take them from us. The numbers of people who have not just retired but who have moved away have been somewhat steady. To compare last year's figures to those in 2018, it was an increase of approximately nine. We did, therefore, see a slight increase in people leaving post Covid-19. This is natural because there were many changes and pressures on An Garda Síochána.
Again, this comes back to making sure that we put the right structures, the right resources and the right environment in place. It is a matter of making sure that they are part of the most recent pay deal, which I am pleased that they were so they can also see an increase in their pay for the work that they are doing. It is again a matter of supporting them and I mentioned some of the resources earlier, such as body-worn cameras and making sure that we are keeping them safe when they go about what is a very dangerous job.
When it comes to stations, I have been in Templemore recently. Thankfully, I had a chance this year - I did not have it previously because of Covid-19 - to meet the new recruits. They do send new recruits to stations outside of their own hometown so that they are not starting off in their own hometown. Sometimes, it might take bit longer to get back home but obviously there are options available to gardaí to seek to transfer. It does depend on who is needed where and what is happening in the station. Obviously, it is a role for An Garda Síochána to determine that, and not for me.
I appreciate that. In the new work environment that has been evolving since Covid-19, more and more people are looking for flexible work arrangements. When everyone else in society is getting flexible work arrangements and when gardaí have very rigid ones, it poses a difficulty and a problem.
In respect of that, I want to raise the point that retention and recruitment is also about having enough gardaí in place to be able to serve the public. We see issues here in the city of Dublin, as we have seen in the recent “Prime Time” report on O'Connell Street and that is mirrored in many areas around the country where we have serious problems. These are simply down to not having enough gardaí on the beat, walking the streets and being there, with community gardaí to look after people, making sure that they are visible and that they have a place in the community. Really, it is down to numbers. I hope that as we move forward when we talk about new and flexible work arrangements there can also be new and flexible training and recruitment arrangements so that we could increase the numbers that we can bring through Templemore and that we could bring more than the 800 per year that is presently in place. That is something that needs to be looked at seriously. We need to look at ensuring that we can have an adequate Garda service in place as we have a growing population.
The intention is that we will have 1,000 next year. Beyond that, we have to look at the capacity within Templemore, but if we were to have 1,000 with 400 civilian staff on a continuous basis, that would bolster the overall number. I am clear that I do not think 15,000 is enough because the population is growing and we need more.
Specifically in relation to the programme the other night, Operation Citizen was launched in response to challenges in our city centre. I think other parts of the country have replicated that in various different districts and divisions. It means 20 gardaí on the beat every day patrolling the city centre and 24 gardaí in 12 different cars. We have police on horseback. We have additional hours at the weekend. We have specific areas that are being targeted. We have over 500 additional hours on top of the work that the gardaí are doing in general. There has been a concerted effort where issues have arisen to increase the number of gardaí to make sure that there are more gardaí on the ground and visible. I appreciate that there are still issues, which are not just about the gardaí. It is about the wider picture and the investment that is needed more generally, but the objective is more garda numbers. The funding is there and the commitment is there by me, by the Garda Commissioner and by everybody involved. It will just take time to see those numbers increasing.
