Garda to offer better pay for new recruits in effort to increase and retain staff

The Garda is set to offer higher rates of remuneration to recruits when they initially join the force in a bid to attract greater numbers and, in particular, good-quality candidates. The increase in pay is being recommended to Government by senior Garda management in what sources say is part of the biggest shake-up in Garda recruitment and retention for decades.

It is also possible some allowances, for all Garda members, would be changed to marginally increase remuneration, in a bid to help retain serving members.

Senior Garda management is concerned changing demographics in the Republic have undermined Garda recruitment. They believe conditions on entry to the force must be made more attractive as part of efforts to offset a coming decade of surging retirements.

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“People used to join the Garda from school but now they’re doing degrees, maybe a master’s, working in the private sector for a while and have mortgages and even children by the time they join,” said one source. “So if people in that age group want to join the organisation now, they’d have to make a big financial sacrifice.”

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Sources said while educated candidates in their mid to late 20s, who already had significant financial commitments, were joining the Garda, many others were being lost to the force. They could not cope with a sudden and significant loss of earnings for eight months while training.

At present, when recruits join the Garda they are paid an allowance of €184 per week for 33 weeks before moving onto a starting salary of €34,572. The salary then increases incrementally over the next eight years to €53,000.

The Irish Times has learned Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is now recommending to Government that the allowance paid to recruits over the 33 weeks should be increased to soften the financial hardship of the training period.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee on Wednesday said “everything is on table” in terms of making conditions more favourable in a bid to attract recruits to the Garda and retain current members. She added the main goal was “making sure we have the right conditions and supports available to them”.

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Mr Harris last week told The Irish Times the maximum age at which people could join the Garda, currently 35 years, was set to increase. He added the compulsory retirement age, 60, was also under examination and would increase.

Security sources have now said the maximum age of entry into the force could be increased to between 45 and 50, while the compulsory retirement age would be increased to at least 62.

Longer term, the changes to the maximum age at entry, and increasing the compulsory retirement age, raise the prospect of candidates aged up to 50 years joining the Garda for careers that could only run for 12 years before they would be obliged to retire on age grounds.

The Garda force is now facing into a decade of retirement surges, because recruitment was accelerated 30-40 years ago and that generation of members will all reach compulsory retirement age in the next 10 years. The number of retirements on age grounds will increase from 68 and 79 in 2025 and 2026 but will then increase each year, reaching 438 in 2032.