58. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to provide an update on Garda recruitment to meet increasing policing demands. [49846/26]

The Programme for Government commits to examining a range of further measures to enable An Garda Síochána recruit 5,000 members across the term of this Government.

The Garda Vote in Budget 2026 includes unprecedented funding of €2.74 billion which will support the continued recruitment of Garda members and staff.

At the end of May, total Garda personnel stood at over 18,200, which included 14,621 Gardaí, 3,498 Garda Staff, and 295 Reserves. I will continue to support An Garda Síochána to increase this number further so that we can see more Gardaí assigned all across the country.

Significant measures have been made to boost recruitment and retention including by increasing the Garda trainee allowance to €354 per week; increasing the age of entry from 35 to 50; and raising the mandatory retirement age to 62.

Following two attestations this year, 360 probationer Gardaí have been assigned across the country. I look forward to seeing large numbers attesting from the Garda college in the remaining two attestations due to take place later this year, the first of which will be held in July. 223 and 215 trainees entered the college in intakes in November of last year and February this year so I expect to see high numbers attesting in each of the upcoming attestations.

The number of Gardaí available to the Commissioner will continue to increase over the coming months as trainees currently in Templemore complete their training and attest from the Garda College. We are now regularly seeing groups of over 200 trainees entering Templemore. The most recent intake of 201 trainees on 4 May was the fourth intake in a row with 200 or more recruits entering the college.

The most recent recruitment competition, which closed on 3 June 2026, attracted 4,115 applications.

This further demonstrates that there is a strong and sustained interest in a career as a Garda amongst the public and further recruitment competitions will be run to ensure that there is a steady pipeline of new recruits ready to enter the Garda College.