Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2026
55. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the position regarding the Programme for Government commitment to "provide funding to recruit at least 5,000 new Garda recruits and additional Garda Staff over the next five years"; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49290/26]
View answerGetting more Gardaí on our streets to prevent and detect crime remains my priority as Minister.
The Programme for Government commits to examining a range of further measures to enable An Garda Síochána to recruit 5,000 members across the five year term of this Government. I am fully committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, with Budget 2026 providing unprecedented funding of €2.74 billion to support recruitment, training and staffing.
At the end of May, total Garda personnel stood at over 18,200, which included 14,621 Gardaí, 3,498 Garda Staff, and 295 Reserves.
Overall, just under 800 trainees entered the Garda College in 2025, the highest number since 2018. 619 Probationer Gardaí also attested from the College last year.
Following two attestations this year, 360 probationer Gardaí have been assigned across the country. I look forward to seeing large numbers attesting from the Garda college in the remaining two attestations due to take place later this year, the first of which will be held in July. 223 and 215 trainees entered the college in intakes in November of last year and February this year so I expect to see in excess of 200 Gardaí attesting in each of the upcoming attestations.
The number of Gardaí available to the Commissioner will continue to increase over the coming months as trainees currently in Templemore complete their training and attest from the Garda College. We are now regularly seeing groups of over 200 trainees entering Templemore. The most recent intake of 201 trainees on 4 May was the fourth intake in a row with 200 or more recruits entering the college.
The most recent recruitment competition, which closed on 3 June 2026, attracted 4,115 applications. This brings the total applications received in the three Garda recruitment competitions that have been held since February 2025 to over 15,000.
This demonstrates that there is a strong and sustained interest in a career as a Garda amongst the public and further recruitment competitions will be run to ensure that there is a steady pipeline of new recruits ready to enter the Garda College.
The Garda authorities have advised that, in line with the Programme for Government, An Garda Síochána will continue to recruit Garda staff, embark upon the next phase of modernisation and specialisation, therein releasing Garda members from activity not requiring their powers and policing experience.
