More than 11,000 people have applied to become a garda in its latest recruitment competition, which saw an increase in the numbers from different ethnic backgrounds applying.
The force has released figures on who applied to join. The competition, which closed for applications on March 16, 2022, received 11,075 applications up from 5,197 from the last competition in 2019.
It is planned that 800 people will be recruited from this competition for Garda training in 2022. The vast majority of people who declared their ethnicity when applying were “White-Irish” (over 8,570). As an overall percentage of applicants, this was down from 88% in 2019 to 77% in 2022.
– 598 said they were “White-Any Other White Background” (up from 347 in 2019) – 43 said they were, “White-Irish Traveller” (14 in 2019) – 332 said they were “Asian or Asian Irish – Any Other Asian Background” (68 in 2019) – 55 said they were, “Asian or Asian Irish – Chinese” (7 in 2019) – 132 said they were, “Black or Black Irish-African” (23 in 2019) – 22 said they were, “Black or Black Irish – Any Other Black Background” (8 in 2019) – 122 said they were “Other including Mixed Background” (37 in 2019)
1,196 people did not declare their ethnicity or preferred not to say it.
Significant outreach work was done by Garda personnel at the local and national levels to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply to become a Garda.
71 applications came from people currently serving as Garda Reserves.
The Garda recruitment competition is being run by the Public Appointments Service on behalf of An Garda Síochána. Speaking today, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said, “In our centenary year, it is very gratifying to see the continuing high level of interest in becoming a member of An Garda Síochána. This speaks to the connection we have with communities and the desire among citizens to give back to those communities by becoming a Garda.
“The increase in applications from across all ethnic backgrounds is also very welcome and encouraging, as is the level of application from women. We know we have a lot of work to do to become more representative of the public we serve, but this is a good start.”