Garda Reserve.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 March 2010

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Ceisteanna (10)

Kathleen Lynch

Ceist:

10 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of members of the Garda Reserve recruited to date; if he will list the stations to which they have been allocated; the number of applicants for the reserve currently in training; if he is satisfied with the rate of recruitment; when he expects that the full complement of 1,500 will be in place; if any restrictions have been placed on recruitment to the reserve arising from budgetary restrictions; if he plans to undertake the review of the operation of the Garda Reserve as recommended in the report of the Garda Inspectorate on resource allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12997/10]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

I am pleased to say that there are now 562 attested Reserve Gardaí with an additional 101 student Reserves in training. Reserve members are allocated to Garda stations throughout the country, and I will write to the Deputy with the latest distribution details as soon as they are available.

The Agreed Programme for Government has set a target strength for the Reserve at 10% of the full time strength of the Force. As the Garda Reserve depends on volunteers who undertake their training and other duties during their free time, it is difficult to predict how many people will commence training in any particular period. However, I can assure the Deputy and the House that the Garda Commissioner is continuing to make every effort to reach the recruitment target. The moratorium on recruitment and appointments in the public service does not apply to the Garda Reserve, as members are volunteers and do not draw a salary.

Recruitment is ongoing and the Public Appointments Service has received over 1,700 expressions of interest to join the Reserve in the past year. The Government is strongly committed to the development of the Reserve. It has been a very successful initiative and I am confident that it will continue to flourish into the future.

The Garda Commissioner is responsible for determining the range of powers and duties of Reserve members, and I am sure that he will keep these under review in line with the recommendation of the Inspectorate.