RECRUITMENT TO the Garda is to begin again before the end of the year, following the placement of job advertisements in the media.
It remains unclear when the first candidates will be called for interview. The number of trainee gardaí to be taken on also remains undecided and will depend on the condition of State finances in the months ahead.
It is expected that at least 100 trainees will be taken on. The number of members retiring from the Garda reached record levels last year. About 800 members retired early in 2009, mainly over fears that their once-off tax-free retirement gratuity was about to be taxed.
Those levels of retirements were about treble that seen in recent years. Numbers within the force remain near the all-time high of 14,500 following an accelerated period of Garda recruitment during the last years of the economic boom.
It is understood that many of those already approved to join the force but who missed out when recruitment was cancelled, will fill some of the new places being advertised.
The first advertisements for the new recruitment drive appear in today’s Irish Times.
The new recruits will be given full policing powers, including the power of arrest, after 34 weeks’ training rather than the current period of 58 weeks.
The new recruits will, for the first time, also face psychological assessment as part of the application process.