Garda recruitment to begin again next year
The first recruitment of gardaí in more than five years will take place next year.
However, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said that he cannot say just yet how many new recruits will be taken in.
A ban on hiring new officers has been in place since 2009 as part of a moratorium in the public sector.
Alan Shatter said that that will be determined by a calculation of retirements so that the number of officers does not fall below 13,000.
Minister Shatter said back in July that this 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".
Speaking today, the Minister told the Dáil he expects the demand to be a garda to be significant going by expressions of interest.
"There's a very substantial… administrative job to be done in the context of the recruitment process" he said.
"There's been an advertisement even issued - in the region of 30,000 individuals have expressed an interest in joining An Garda Síochána".
"So I'm very pleased that we will be recruiting next year."
