Minister for Justice Jim O Callaghan has accepted that the Government's Budget promise to recruit "up to" 1,000 gardai next year is "achievable but challenging" after an independent garda report said it would not be possible.
A working group set up to consider how to increase garda recruitment has found that the Garda College does not have the capacity to train 1,000 new gardaí every year.
The Recruitment Training Capacity group was also expected to make a decision on whether a second Garda Training College should be established but instead recommended that another working group be established to consider that matter.
Asked about the conclusion of the garda Recruitment Training Capacity report at a post-budget press briefing at Government Buildings, Minister O' Callaghan accepted the findings of the review.
He said the target of 1,000 new gardaí is "achievable but challenging", and that capacity is not currently at 1,000 new gardaí.
"It does mention in that report that the target of achieving 5,000 new members in the force during the five years of the Government is achievable but challenging," he said.
"What we are in at the moment is that we can take in approximately 800 to 900 in Templemore in terms of each intake, so we want to try and get that capacity up to 1,000."
Asked about the fact the Recruitment Training Capacity report was tasked with deciding whether a second Garda College is needed and has instead pushed that decision out to another review, Minister O' Callaghan said: "My own view, and that's apparent from the training review, is at present, there's approximately 200 fully qualified gardaí who are in Templemore who are using it for ongoing training."
"I think an option we may have to look at is all ongoing training for An Garda Síochána won't take place in Templemore and Templemore will be exclusively for the training of new recruits coming in.
"So I think the target of up to 1,000 or 5,000 [new garda in one year, and then five years] is achievable, I recognise it is challenging, but the most important driver of garda recruitment is to ensure we get the numbers coming through," he added.
Government has allocated €77 million in the Budget
The Government has allocated €77 million in the Budget to recruit an extra 1,000 gardaí next year, but failed to reach that same target last year.
It has also allocated an extra €19m for garda overtime.
In spite of the advertising and recruitment campaigns, the public demand for more gardaí and the fact that thousands of people want to join, the Government target of 1,000 new garda recruits each year has consistently been missed.
A maximum of 750 gardaí will be recruited this year after the final group enters the Garda College at Templemore in November.
The Government set up a working group to try to identify the problems and how to solve them.
The group has now found that the Garda College does not have the capacity to accommodate 1,000 new recruits every year and although work is under way to increase capacity "further work is required."
An Garda Síochána Recruitment Training Capacity Group said the Government's target of recruiting 5,000 gardaí over five years is "achievable" but "challenging".
The report points out however that that this would require routine intakes of 200-250, "a level that has not been achieved in recent years".
Read the Report in full here
It says the Garda College is operating "at near full capacity, currently in the range of 800-900 trainees per annum" and that An Garda Síochána has warned that "there are currently constraints both in terms of the teaching, classroom and accommodation capacity of the College."
Work is currently under way to increase capacity at Templemore to accommodate up to 250 trainees per intake.
The working group was also tasked with examining whether the Government should establish a second Garda Training College, but instead it has recommended to the Minister for Justice that another working group be set up to consider the matter and that this working group should report by July of next year.
Senior Garda management, including former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, have consistently said they do not need a second training college for recruits, but do need a second college for training gardaí in firearms, driving and promotion courses.
Around 200 sworn gardaí are currently occupying spaces on internal training courses in Templemore, which could be freed up for recruits if a second facility was built for in-service training.
An estimated 1,650 gardaí will become eligible to retire over the next five years, but the report says "it is reasonable to assume" that the garda numbers will exceed 15,000 by the middle to end of 2027 and16,000 by 2029 "assuming intakes in the region of 1,000 to 1,250 in future years."
The working group report also says that "achieving the targets will continue to require a relentless focus by AGS and publicjobs.ie to ensure that the pipeline remains strong and that those candidates who pass the publicjobs.ie process actually convert into trainees quickly.
Sufficient capacity at Templemore to train 1,00 recruits - GRA
General Secretary of the Garda Representative Association Ronan Slevin said the GRA's "clear position" is that there is sufficient capacity currently at Templemore to train 1,000 recruits a year if those trainee numbers were delivered.
"This may require some additional local external accommodation which has been provided in the past, such as was the case during accelerated recruitment campaigns in the early 2000s, so this is indeed possible.
"We would have been very happy to put these points to this Working Group had we been allowed to participate or even consulted but sadly that was not the case," he said.
"Once again the voice of the GRA was ignored while policing reports were compiled and published without proper consultation with the very members who have first hand experience coming through garda college."
