Peadar Tóibín
Question:813. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons recruited to An Garda Síochána in each of the past five years and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [47767/23]
View answerTuesday, 7 November 2023
Questions (813)
Written answers
The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities – and strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of that. We will continue to provide An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe.
The unprecedented allocation of over €2 billion for 2023 and a further €2.3 billion for 2024 to An Garda Síochána demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring An Garda Síochána has provision for the equipment, technology, facilities, fleet and personnel it needs to carry out vital policing work.
This level of funding is providing for a steady pipeline of new Gardaí, with new recruits entering the Garda College approximately every 11 weeks. Whilst the necessary temporary closure of the Garda College during the Covid-19 pandemic put an unfortunate pause on recruitment, the number of recruits has continued to grow in each class following the re-opening of the college.
As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including for the recruitment, training and deployment of Garda members. As Minister, I have no role in such matters. I am however assured that the Commissioner keeps the allocation of these resources under continued review, in line with crime and population trends, to ensure their optimum use.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, a total of 4,243 new recruits have attested as Gardaí and been assigned to duties nationwide. This includes the 237 Probationer Gardaí who have attested this year.
The table below sets out the number of Gardaí attested by year since 2019 up to 13 October 2023 (the date of the latest attestation).
|
Divisions |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
|
Total |
605 |
522 |
148 |
370 |
237 |
1,882 |
Further detailed information in relation to the allocation of Probationer Gardaí by Division and Station can be found at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/bd777-an-garda-siochana-your-police-service-some-facts-and-figures/