An Garda Síochána

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 December 2022

Tuesday, 6 December 2022

Questions (457, 468)

Jim O'Callaghan

Question:

457. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice if he will provide a breakdown of the number of additional gardaí hired since 27 June 2020, by county, in tabular form. [60283/22]

Jim O'Callaghan

Question:

468. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice the number of members currently in An Garda Síochána; and the number of members in An Garda Síochána on 27 June 2020. [60590/22]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I propose to take Questions Nos. 457 and 468 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, which includes decisions on the deployment of personnel among the various Garda Divisions. As Minister, I have no role in these matters.

The Government is committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, with the unprecedented allocation provided in Budget 2023 of €2.14 billion.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014 a total of 4,500 Probationer Gardaí have attested, this includes the 1,039 probationer Gardaí who attested in 2020, 2021 and 2022 (a monthly breakdown is not available).

The table below which has been provided to me by the Garda authorities, sets out the number of probationer Gardaí who were assigned to Garda stations nationwide from 2015 to 8 July 2022, the date of the last attestation. Please note that this information is based upon operational data which has been provided by An Garda Síochána and may be liable to change.

The Deputy will appreciate that while Garda numbers have continued to grow over recent years, this growth stalled in 2022 due to the closure of the Garda college for much of 2020 and 2021 as a result of Covid-19, which had a knock on impact throughout the recruitment process. I am pleased to say that a new competition commenced earlier this year and the first new trainees from this competition entered the college last month, with more classes to come on stream over the course of 2023. Upon completion of the training programme, these trainees will attest as probationer Gardaí and be assigned to Garda duties.

Year	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Total
Total number of Probationer Gardaí	296	393	883	789	605	522	148	369	4,005

For the Deputy's information, detailed statistics on Garda workforce numbers, including a full breakdown of probationer Gardaí by Division and station are published on my Department's website and can be accessed using the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/7c2e6-probationer-gardai/.