Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 April 2025
535. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Justice the number of people that deferred a place to the Garda college in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025; the number of people that declined a place to the Garda training college in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025. [15065/25]
View answer536. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Justice the number of probationer Gardaí in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, that resigned and were dismissed before passing their probationer period; and the number that had the probationer period extended. [15066/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 535 and 536 together.
It is my first priority to get more Gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment. I want to help build safe and secure communities, and a well-resourced policing service is critical to achieving that. In Budget 2025 an unprecedented sum of €2.48 billion was allocated to An Garda Síochána to allow 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.
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.
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 taken to maximise future intakes and to ensure that recruitment campaigns are as effective as possible.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that the table below shows the number of people who deferred a place in the Garda college from the 2023, 2024 and to date from the 2025 Garda recruitment competition cohorts.
As candidates from these cohorts are still in processing they will continue to be made offers and, as such, the figures may change in due course. Regarding the 2025 competition cohort, almost 6,700 candidates completed the first stage of application of submission and are now due to move to interview stage with PublicJobs in the coming weeks. As such no candidate from the 2025 cohort would be in a position to have received an offer yet and the data below reflects that position.
This table also shows the number of people who declined a place in the Garda training college from the 2023, 2024 and to date from the 2025 Garda recruitment competition cohorts.
|
Competition |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 YTD |
|
Number of candidates per competition |
1,047 |
1,324 |
N/A |
|
Number of declines |
65 |
7 |
0 |
|
Number of deferrals |
175* |
26* |
0 |
*Candidates may have deferred more than once, therefore this number is reflective of the number of deferrals, and not candidates who deferred.
The Garda Trainee recruitment competition for 2025 is now closed, with applications closing on 27 February, 2025. The PublicJobs-managed selection process is ongoing.
I am further advised by the Garda authorities that the below table shows the number of probationer Gardaí in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, who resigned or were dismissed before passing their probationer period, and also the number that had their probationer period extended.
|
2023 |
2024 |
2025 YTD |
|
|
Number of Probationer Resignations |
39 |
38 |
12 |
|
Number of Probationer Dismissals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Number of Probationers who have had their Probation extended |
101 |
54 |
13 |
Probation extension is defined in accordance with Regulation 12(4), 12(5) and 12(10) of the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013. Some probationers have had their probation extended more than once in a year and in more than one of the years in question.
