55. Deputy David Maxwell asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if a proposed date has been set for the next Garda Reserve recruitment campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11574/26]

The Programme for Government commits to examining a range of further measures to enable An Garda Síochána to increase the personnel in the organisation, including recruiting 5,000 new Garda members in the lifetime of the Government and increasing the Garda Reserve.

The Garda Vote in Budget 2026 includes unprecedented funding of €2.74 billion which will support the recruitment of up to 1,000 new Gardaí, 200 more Garda staff and a doubling of the Garda Reserve to over 600.

Following the introduction of new regulations governing recruitment, training and deployment of the Reserve, a competition to recruit Garda Reserves opened in June 2024 and received over 1,800 applications. In addition, to help support the work of Reserves, the maximum stipend a Reserve member receives for voluntary service in a given year has been increased from €1,000 to €3,000.

The first cohort of 19 successful candidates entered Templemore in 2025 and 17 of these attested in November 2025. A further class of Garda Reserves are currently in training and further intakes will commence training during 2026. I also understand that An Garda Síochána are engaging with Publicjobs in relation to the possible scheduling of the next recruitment competition for those interested in applying to join the Garda Reserve.