Garda to accept recruits aged up to 50 under new changes

The Garda will now accept new recruits up to the age of 50 years under a new rule change aimed at increasing the size of the force and creating a more diverse skills and ethnicity mix in Irish policing.

The decision to increase the maximum age for new recruits, from 35 at present to 50, was set to be announced by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris today.

Senior Garda management and the Government are also in talks about increasing the retirement age in the force, from 60 at present. The commissioner flagged that move in a recent interview with The Irish Times, though said the increased retirement age may not go as high as 65.

More cash

The move to increase the upper age limit for recruits comes just days after the weekly payment for them was increased to €305 from €184. The rise, unveiled in Tuesday’s budget, is designed to ensure Garda recruitment campaigns continue to generate a strong response. That is especially important at present because the Garda faces a spike in age-related retirements over the next 10 years. Recruitment was accelerated between 30 and 40 years ago and that generation of members will reach retirement age over the next decade.

The commissioner has already warned that the spike in retirements means significant recruitment campaigns must be run annually to, first, maintain a large organisation and, second, expand numbers to 15,000 which has been a Government promise for years.

Ms McEntee and the commissioner will preside over a passing out ceremony, for 126 new officers, at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, on Friday. And the addition of those new gardaí will increase the size of the force to 14,032.

That is significant as it is the first time the strength of the Garda has topped 14,000 since numbers began falling in mid-2020, when the Garda College was forced to close due to the pandemic. The force had reached a record size of 14,750 in spring 2020 but due to retirements and resignations this fell below 14,000 in recent months.

The maximum age for recruits was 26 until 2004. The increase to 50 must be provided for by changing Garda regulations following approval by the Cabinet.

Ministerial talks

Ms McEntee will bring proposals to Government shortly and she and the commissioner want the change to be in place before the next recruitment campaign starts in the coming weeks. Ms McEntee is also in discussions with Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe about increasing the retirement age in the force.

After today’s passing out ceremony, another class will enter the college on Monday. That follows 135 recruits entering in February, 154 in May and 174 in July. The class starting next week was expected to be in line with last July’s group, which is still some way short of the targeted 200 recruits in each intake.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents about 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí in a 14,000-strong force, this week welcomed the Government’s budget pledge to recruit between 800 and 1,000 officers next year. However, it stressed similar targets had been missed last year and it’s welcome for the latest promise was “guarded”.

“[We] hope that we can achieve these extra numbers in the interest of the safety and wellbeing of our members and of the public, but also that they continue to address issues within the force to make a career [in the force] a safer and more attractive one to potential recruits,” said GRA general secretary Ronan Slevin.