It is “highly unlikely” Garda numbers will hit the levels pledged by the Coalition earlier this year under recruitment policies, the Policing Authority warned earlier this year.
The stark message is contained in correspondence from the body’s chairwoman to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan sent in March.
It outlines that with retirements projected to “significantly increase” in the coming decade, the programme for government commitment to recruit at least 5,000 gardaí by 2029 is endangered.
The letter, released under the Freedom of Information Act , also warns that gardaí are managing complex and serious investigations while “relying primarily on manual spreadsheets or paper-based systems”.
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Policing Authority chairwoman Elaine Byrne told Mr O’Callaghan that, “in the absence of radical and meaningful reform” of recruitment, it is highly unlikely the target of at least 5,000 gardaí, as set out in the programme for government, will be met.
She wrote that it was similarly “unlikely” that recruitment pipelines will result in sufficient new members “to meet the natural attrition and current or increased demand”.
It is among a litany of issues outlined by the Policing Authority, which was subsumed along with the Garda Síochána Inspectorate into the new Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA) in April.
Ms Byrne wrote that workforce recruitment, the sufficiency of budgeting and investment in the force were “fundamental and now urgent challenges”.
She outlined a “pressing need” for continued and enhanced investment in technology for the Garda, including priorities in finance and human resource management, despite improvements in recent years.
“It cannot be the case that the Garda Síochána continues to manage complex and serious investigations, an organisation of 18,000 people, and a budget of €2.48 billion relying primarily on manual spreadsheets or paper-based systems.”
Labour Party justice spokesman Alan Kelly said the correspondence was “extraordinary” and suggested Government recruitment plans “are basically impossible”.
Mr Kelly said the letter was a “slap in the face to Government, to the Minister for Justice, telling him the direction they’re going in is not sufficient and is not going to work”.
In the annual letter, which is sent advising the likely financial requirements of the Garda, Ms Byrne also outlined “structural weaknesses” in budgeting arrangements for the force, leading to bailouts to meet the cost of paying for overtime.
Annual overtime budgets as initially allocated are “insufficient to run the organisation”, she said. This is “known to be insufficient” at the start of every year, she added, outlining that the 2025 budget was for €150 million, but the bill came to €200 million last year.
A PCSA spokesman said it noted concerns raised by the Policing Authority and that Garda numbers and workforce modernisation “continue to be key challenges for An Garda Síochána [and] ... will be matters that the PCSA keeps under close review”.
In response, a Department of Justice spokesman said the Minister “intends to deliver on the programme for government commitment to increase recruitment”.
He said the overall Garda workforce is higher than ever and that increased training allowances and a higher maximum entry age and retirement age have been introduced to boost recruitment and retention.
A dedicated group has been established to examine the issue, and it is due to report in the coming weeks. A Garda recruitment campaign ran earlier this year and will be followed by a second one later in the year.
Some 370 trainees entered Templemore in March and June this year, said the spokesman.
“The Minister acknowledges the vital role of the Policing and Community Safety Authority ... as the statutory agency responsible for the oversight of An Garda Síochána, and welcomes the efforts of that organisation to support greater recruitment to and continuous improvement of policing services in Ireland.”
