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The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charles Flanagan T.D., has welcomed the addition of 206 new members to An Garda Síochána today following their attestation as members at a ceremony in the Garda College, Templemore.

The Minister, who is fulfilling commitments overseas in connection with St Patrick’s Day and could not attend in person said,

“Today is a proud day for the new members and their families and friends and an important day for the State. It is heartening to see 206 people of such diverse experience answer the call to public service to support the mission of An Garda Síochána to protect and serve. I wish each of them a long and rewarding policing career in An Garda Síochána and urge them to remember always that their core role is to serve the community and to do so with dedication and with honour.”

Minister Flannagan went on to say that,

“the new recruits are visible proof of the Government’s commitment to an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 including 15,000 Garda members.  In total 800 Garda trainees are scheduled to attest during the year with Garda numbers, taking account of projected retirements, on track to reach 14,000 by the end of 2018.”

The 206 new members bring the number of new recruits who have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and who have been assigned to mainstream duties around the country, to just under 1,800 since the Government reopened the College in September 2014. This year a further 800 new Garda Recruits will enter the Garda College - 200 of whom have already entered since 29 January. Referring to the value of additional people becoming available to the Garda Commissioner, the Minster said

“Undoubtedly, the on-going recruitment process will support all Garda activities and enhance visibility within our communities and will enable the Commissioner to provide additional resources across the organisation, as new Garda recruits continue to come on stream throughout this year.”