Dear Thank you for taking the time to write to Fine Gael about your concerns. It is very difficult to ascertain the exact current strength of the Garda force. Fine Gael has through Dail Question to the Minister for Justice sought to ascertain the exact number but he has given varied answers. In January 2011 he stated the number to be 14, 364

1, and in late November

2010, 14,500 in the Government’s National Recovery Plan 2010-2014. We are aware of the discrepancy between these numbers and the numbers presented by the Garda Representative Association, and have looked for an explanation from the Minister for this, but none has been forthcoming. We are very unhappy with the content of the Government's National Recovery Plan 2010-2014 published in November 2010 and the commitment given in it to the IMF/EU for this State to reduce Garda numbers from 14,500 to 13,000 by 2014. We would like to maintain the current strength of the Garda force but we are not during our election campaign making any commitments that we may not be able to keep due to the catastrophic state of the public finances and the economic difficulties for which the outgoing Government is responsible. Should Fine Gael be elected to Government we intend to revisit this issue and to examine the possibility of changing the Government’s decision as we are concerned that it’s full implementation will detrimentally impact on the Garda force’s capacity to fulfill all of its important functions. The unfortunate predicament of those presently on the Garda Recruitment panel is a consequence of the decision made by the outgoing Government to substantially reduce numbers within the Garda force. In early 2010, former Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, launched a recruitment campaign and committed the Government to a new Garda recruitment programme. This of course was essentially abandoned by the Government in November 2010. For the reason already given, Fine Gael is not in a position at present to make a commitment as to when those on the panel will have an opportunity to progress into the Garda Training College. However, we are conscious that the Gardaí need to have new and young Gardaí joining the force for many reasons, such as developing and maintaining contacts with younger people in the community. The re-commencement of Garda training will form part of the review that will be undertaken by Fine Gael, should we be elected to Government. We believe it is vital that An Garda Siochana does not become an aging force and believe it is in the interests of both the Garda Síochána and the wider community that there be a new recruitment intake into the force at the earliest possible opportunity. I hope this answers your questions. I am sorry that it is not possible to be more specific at this time. However, we believe it is important to be truthful and not mislead people about such an important issue. Many thanks for taking the time to communicate with us. Yours sincerely

1 http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2011-01-18.1148.0&s=garda+strength+speaker%3A22#g1150.0.r)