Garda numbers have continued to decline as many recruit candidates offered places in the Garda College have not taken them up. At the same time, resignations from the Garda are continuing to increase at a significant rate while age-related retirements also look set to be higher this year.
The Government and Garda headquarters had initially planned for five intakes, or classes, of 200 recruits to enter the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, this year. However, the first intake in February numbered 135 recruits while the second, in May, involved 154.
Sources said classes have been smaller than the hoped-for 200 as some candidates who successfully applied for to join the force have deferred taking up their place or changed their minds about a career in policing. In other cases, if recruits spent some time living abroad, their records in those countries must be checked as part of the vetting process, which was slower when it involved an international component.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents more than11,000 rank and file gardaí in a near 14,000-strong force, said was “worried” at the continued fall in garda numbers.
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In reply to queries, Garda HQ said the first batch of recruits in training would pass out “in the coming week”. While the panel of successful candidates from last year’s recruitment campaign had not yet been exhausted, those who applied through the 2023 campaign were “now commencing the recruitment process including … interview, physical competence test, medical and vetting”. A recruitment process would be held each year “in order to reach the minimum 15,000 sworn Garda members, and expand further in the years ahead”.
The Department of Justice said Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had “assured” the Minister, Helen McEntee, he was “confident” the number of new Garda members graduating this year would exceed the number who leave the force.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) said the latest trends around recruitment, resignations and retirements were part of an ongoing pattern of recruitment targets being “missed repeatedly”. Agsi general secretary, Antoinette Cunningham said that given the rates of resignations and retirements, and what she termed a lack of resources in the Garda, the Government and Policing Authority must come up with proposals to make policing a “more attractive career”.
Training process
Ms McEntee and the commissioner have said recruitment would rebound this year. Garda strength fell from 14,750 at its peak in March, 2020, to 13,927 at the end of last month — down another 70 since April — after the Garda College was mothballed during the pandemic.
While it was initially anticipated five intakes of 200 recruits would enter the college this year, that began to be revised downwards, to 800 in four intakes, towards the end of last year. But even that target will now not be reached because the intakes are smaller than expected this year.
If the pattern of the first two intakes was repeated for the remaining two this year, the total going into the college would be about 600. This will reduce a little as some recruits drop out during the training process.
That would mean the force would grow only marginally this year when resignations and retirements were factored in. In the first five months of this year, some 59 gardaí resigned and 150 retired. If those trends continue to year-end, about 140 resignations will take place — up from a record high of 108 last year — and age-related retirements would reach 360. That would mean a net gain of about 100 members this year before training drop-outs are factored in.
GRA interim general secretary Ronan Slevin said the loss of personnel now posed “a real threat to our ability to manage effective policing in this country” as there were now almost 850 fewer gardaí than three years ago.
“Successive budgets promised 800 extra gardaí in 2022 and 1,000 more this year but the recruitment numbers are 30 per cent off target already, so the promised 15,000 gardaí will simply not materialise,” he said.
“Government departments now need to urgently work with garda management and representative associations to form effective strategic actions to address the problems with recruitment and also try to better retain the gardaí we have for longer. We believe that these measures could include a thorough investigation into current pay and conditions and to ensure a safer working environment and a better work-life balance for our members.”
