Government’s Garda recruitment targets falling short by more than 30%

The number of new recruits taken into An Garda Síochána is more than 30 per cent behind the Government’s target for this year as those who have come through the recruitment process fail to take up their places in the force.

It means the Government’s promise to recruit 1,000 new gardaí this year now already looks unattainable. And the Garda Representative Association (GRA) is warning of a “Garda recruitment and retention crisis which is at an unprecedented scale in this organisation”.

“At some stage Garda management and Government are going to have to address the real elephant in the room and that is why it is so hard to recruit new gardaí and keep the members that we have,” said GRA deputy general secretary Rory Slevin.

On Monday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he believed there were not enough gardaí in Dublin to deal with far-right, or anti-immigration, protests, some of which have turned violent. Minister for Justice Simon Harris stopped short of echoing that view when asked. He said when he had met Garda Commissioner Drew Harris earlier in the day, he was assured he had enough resources to carry out his policing plans.

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However, Mr Harris said “we could always do with more gardaí”, adding the Government’s plan to recruit 1,000 Garda members this year was already under way. But recruitment data compiled by the GRA has revealed recruitment targets for 2023 were much lower than planned.

On Monday a class of 225 recruits was due to begin training at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, though 154 recruits took up their places. When the first intake of 2023 entered the college in January, the class should have numbered 200, but only 134 recruits took up their places.

The data shows the plan to have 425 recruits in the first two intakes of the year has fallen short by 32 per cent. If those trends continue for the remainder of the year, the plan to hire 1,000 new gardaí through 2023 will result in about 640 recruits starting. And that number will reduce further due to the usual attrition associated with Garda training.

The GRA, which represents more than 11,000 rank and file gardaí in a 14,000-strong force, said research it commissioned earlier this year found only 27 per cent of the public viewed a career in the Garda as attractive for themselves or a family member. The association said people in Ireland now believed policing had become more challenging at a time when conditions within the force were deteriorating.

Mr Slevin said this must be “extremely concerning” for both the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice. “Our members need better conditions, training, equipment and protection, and also a better work-life balance with clearer work patterns and a safer working environment in order to recruit new gardaí and retain the members we already have,” he said.

While Garda numbers were at a record high, of 14,750, in March 2020, the Garda College was closed or ran at reduced capacity during the pandemic period. That resulted in recruitment slowing or halting for different periods in 2020, 2021 and 2022. However, retirements continued as normal and resignations increased, resulting in Garda numbers having now fallen to 14,000. The Government’s plan to hire 1,000 Garda recruits this year is part of a wide plan to increase Garda numbers to 15,000 by the end of next year.

Comment was awaited from the Department of Justice and Garda Headquarters.