Recruitment of civil servants frees up 800 gardaí for frontline duty

This year, 370 garda trainees passed out from the Garda College and entered active service. The recruitment of 1,200 civil servants is expected to release 800 gardaí for frontline duties. File picture: Brendan Gleeson

More than 800 gardaí have been released from administrative duties to the frontline as a result of the recruitment of 1,200 civil servants into the organisation, according to official figures.

Garda HQ said this has resulted in over 300 officers being assigned to the specialist divisional units tasked with investigating sexual and domestic violence.

The release of the figures follows increasing concern at falling garda numbers, with the most recent report from Commissioner Drew Harris showing the strength had fallen to 14,176 at the end of November, compared to 14,519 in November 2020.

Concerning..the Commissioner is saying that the 1,000 planned @gardainfo recruitment for 2023 may fall short..current strength is now 14,176…in Dec 2021 it was 14,235, in Dec 2020 - 14,491…it’s in danger of falling below 14,000-@AGSI_Ireland & @gardarep need to be safe at work! https://t.co/SRbSbJTlYx

— antoinette (@antoabs) December 21, 2022

In Budget 2023, the Government said there would be 1,000 garda recruits next year, in five batches of 200. In Budget 2022, the Government had set a target of 800 recruits, but just 116 trainees were recruited this year.

As reported in Tuesday’s Irish Examiner, the commissioner told RTÉ’s Crimecall on Monday night that he hoped to recruit 800 gardaí in 2023, appearing to be at odds with the 1,000 target. 

Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors general secretary Antoinette Cunningham expressed concern at the comments, tweeting that garda strength is “in danger of falling below 14,000”.

She said her members and those of the Garda Representative Association “need to be safe at work”.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, Garda HQ said that, even with the impact of Covid-19 on garda recruitment, there are 1,200 more gardaí than six years ago — 14,211 at end of October 2022 versus 12,943 at the end of 2016.

“In 2022, 370 Garda trainees were attested from the Garda College into service with An Garda Síochána,” it said. “There are a further 25 garda trainees currently in training in the Garda College, who are due to be attested in January 2023.”

It said that a new garda trainee competition was conducted this year and that the first class from that competition of 92 student gardaí entered the Garda College in late November.

“In addition, Garda staff numbers have grown by approximately 1,200 during this timeframe.

“This has allowed the release of more than 800 Gardaí from administrative duties to the front line, resulting in over 300 Gardaí being assigned to Divisional Protective Service Units to prevent and detect crimes such as sexual crime and domestic abuse.”

Garda HQ also said that, in response to a request from gardaí for increased front-line supervision, they had, in the last year, promoted 400 gardaí to the rank of sergeant, and more than 100 sergeants to inspector.