Policing Authority recommends 'radical change' in garda recruitment

Irish Examiner

7 days ago

'Radical change' is needed to Garda retention and recruitment to enable the organisation meet its existing functions, the policing oversight body has said.
Policing Authority chair Elaine Byrne also said the ongoing delay in the enactment of policing legislation has meant it has been unable to conduct competitions for senior Garda positions, with potentially 'serious consequences' for the Garda senior leadership team.
Writing in the 2024 annual report of the Policing Authority, Ms Byrne said the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act was only commenced last April. Under this, the authority has been renamed the Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA).
In a separate report to the annual report, the PCSA noted recent changes to the Garda recruitment process, including the fitness procedure, and a reduced timeframe for vetting.
The Assessment of Policing Performance during 2024 report said the 'impact of the strain on resources' has affected the organisation's abilities to meet many policing targets for 2024.
Policing Authority chair Elaine Byrne (left) with the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in Dublin last year. Drew Harris recently told an Oireachtas committee he expected he would have 15,200 gardaí, rather than 14,200, by now, but that covid and long recruitment processes had affected this. File photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie
The report also highlights:
Lack of resources is seen as 'detrimental' to the success of the new Garda Operating Model and that 'in the main' gardaí highlight challenges with the model as linked to resources rather than the model itself;
Gardaí – such as detectives – cite geographic issues with the new model (which has merged divisions) in that travelling within an expanded division 'takes up considerable time' on a shift;
There is a need to examine the investment still needed in technology to assist in the identification of child sexual abuse material;
Where technology has been provided, some divisional Protective Services Units have not been trained in it;
Low staffing levels in the Garda Online Child Exploitation Unit and the Sexual Crime Management Unit raise concerns at Garda capacity to investigate such crimes;
Despite some progress between Gardaí and Tusla in electronically sharing cases, a data sharing agreement has still not been agreed;
Significant progress in the joint specialist interviewer training, used in interviewing children who have been sexually abused, with a cohort of 15 gardaí and 15 Tusla social workers trained last September;
Significant progress in public order policing with investment in equipment, vehicles and training;
Elsewhere, the report cites 'continued success' in tackling high-level organised crime and drug trafficking, but noted that communities 'remain fearful' and the drug-related intimidation and grooming of children into gangs remained a significant issue.
The report commends investment in the Garda National Cyber Security Bureau but noted a 64% increase in cases received in 2024 and said, if that continued, its work in reducing backlogs 'may be reversed'.
The report said the 'largest risk' facing the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau was the scale of referrals from financial institutions of fraud incidents.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris recently told an Oireachtas committee he expected he would have 15,200 gardaí, rather than 14,200, by now, but that covid and long recruitment processes had affected this.
He had introduced measures to speed up the process and aimed to increase annual capacity at Templemore Garda College from 800 to 1,000.