Ryan O'Meara
Question:194. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Justice his plans for expanding capacity at Templemore Garda Training College; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12612/25]
View answerThursday, 20 March 2025
Questions (194)
Written answers
This Government will be resolute in its support of Gardaí. We want to build safe and secure communities, and a well-resourced policing service is critical to achieving that. In Budget 2025 we allocated the unprecedented sum of €2.48 billion which is allowing for sustained investment in recruitment, technology and equipment.
The overall Garda workforce, which includes Gardaí, civilian staff and Reserves currently stands at almost 18,000.
My first priority as Minister for Justice is to get more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment.
A number of significant measures have been made to boost recruitment including increasing the Garda trainee allowance to €354 per week, increasing the age of entry from 35 to 50 and increasing the mandatory retirement age to 62. Momentum is continuing to build in the area of recruitment and we can already see the positive effects of these measures.
We can see clearly that there is strong interest in a career in An Garda Síochána. In February the latest recruitment competition took place. It attracted just over 6,700 applicants. This builds on the 5,000 applications which were received in 2023 and the almost 6,400 last year. I would like to commend publicjobs and An Garda Síochána for the innovative and creative recruitment campaign they ran which has resulted in such strong interest.
Last week, we saw 201 trainee Gardaí enter Templemore. This is the largest intake since 2019. It is also the first of four intakes for 2025. I am committed to working with the Garda Commissioner to explore ways of increasing the number of trainees who enter Templemore.
The Programme for Government commits to examining a range of further measures to enable An Garda Síochána recruit 5,000 members across the next five years. This includes reforming the Garda recruitment and training processes to increase capacity.
I can assure the Deputy that nothing is off the table when it comes to examining measures to boost Garda recruitment and I have already had discussions with the Garda Commissioner about how best this can be achieved.
A Recruitment and Training Capacity Group has been established to support the achievement of the increased recruitment to AGS. The group will provide me with a final report in mid-2025 on actions being taking to maximise future intakes and to ensure that recruitment campaigns are as effective as possible.