Fine Gael Justice Minister Alan Shatter has announced that the controversial Garda recruitment ban, currently in force, will start again after plans were sanctioned by the Public Spending Minister Brendan Howlin.
The Minister stated that it was very important for an organisation like An Garda Síochána, given the demanding nature of policing, to receive a reasonably regular intake of new recruits. He will now make arrangements with the Public Appointments Service, so that they can do the necessary preparatory work to deal with new applications later this year.
While the Minister would not disclose how many full-time Gardaí would be hired as part of this process, he indicated that advertisements for these new posts would be placed in national newspapers.
The Minister and the Garda Commissioner Mr Martin Callinan were both attending a Garda Reserve Graduation ceremony at the Garda College, Templemore at midday today, when his announcement was made.
Some 100 Garda Reserve personnel graduated today, made up of 72 men and 28 women and amongst those graduating were citizens from Albania, Romania, Croatia, India, Poland and Lithuania. There are currently 1269 Garda Reserve officers in the force, with 1063 of these fully attested while 206 are presently receiving training.
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