Gardaí give cautious welcome to funding for 800 new recruits

Garda Recruitment Challenges have been a challenge to reach. Picture: Dan Linehan

Gardaí have given a cautious welcome to the government's new funding for 800 new recruits and 400 civilian garda staff but have warned the increase in staff level is not enough.

Brendan O'Connor, Vice President of the Garda Representative Association said the benefit of new recruits on frontline policing needs to be assessed against retirements and promotions. 

"The Garda Representative association will always welcome the allocation of funding for the recruitment of new members.

"While we welcome the commitment to recruit 800 gardaí, it must be kept in mind that this figure will only lead to an actual increase in frontline members if the level of recruitment exceeds that of retirements and resignations.

"We will need to see the proposed timeframe and the commitment actually delivered before it’s contribution to frontline policing can be fully assessed," he said. 

The cautious statement said that experienced gardaí in competition for promotion will also need to replaced in addition to the training of new recruits. 

"It is important also to acknowledge the length of time between a member being recruited and them becoming a fully qualified and autonomous member of An Garda Síochána.

"Furthermore, there are a large number of gardaí involved in the competition for promotion and these positions will need to be filled in addition to any promised new recruits.

"We also need reassurance that continuous training and professional development for existing staff is not a casualty as resources are concentrated on new entrants," he said. 

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath announced the funding in a move to take back ground lost over the last two years, caused by the Covid pandemic, in the recruitment of gardaí.

The force's reducing strength has now fallen to 14,369 – the lowest level since January 2020.

The total strength has fallen every month over the last five months and compares to a height of 14,750 gardaí in March 2020.

Covid-19 has been a significant hindrance to the training of new gardaí. Budget 2020 provided funding for the recruitment of “up to 700” gardaí, but only 275 were recruited. 

Budget 2021 faced similar difficulties with funding announced for “up to 620” recruits, but a maximum of 450 will be taken on, again as a result of the coronavirus. 

Recruitment challenges date before the pandemic, however as Budget 2019 provided funding for the recruitment of “up to 800” gardaí, but Garda Commissioner Harris said he intended to recruit 600. 

The long-running target of successive governments has been to bring garda numbers to 15,000 by the end of 2021.

€28.1m  in funding is being used for the recruitment of the 800 trainee gardaí and 400 civilian garda staff.