Approximately 6,381 people have applied to An Garda Síochána in the recent recruitment competition.
It is only 10 months since the last Garda recruitment campaign, which attracted approximately 5,000 applications.
Approximately 2,300 applicants were aged between 35 and 49, following the Government’s decision to increase the entry age limit to apply to become a Garda trainee from 35 years to 50.
Almost 37 per cent (36.6 per cent) of applicants for the 2024 competition were people aged between 35 and 49.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris commented previously that the entry age limit increase to 50 for this campaign provided the opportunity to people who thought their chance had passed or who were considering a change of career to join An Garda Síochána.
The latest Garda recruitment competition, which is being operated by the Public Appointments Service on behalf of An Garda Síochána, closed at 3 pm on February 8th.
A Garda spokesperson said: "This level of applications coming less than a year since the last competition coupled with the fact that more than 2,000 applicants were aged over 35 confirms that interest in becoming a Garda is still high and it’s a job worth doing.”
Recruitment process
Applicants will now enter into a competitive selection process involving a number of stages including online aptitude tests (Stage 1), competency-based interviews (Stage 2), and fitness test (Stage 3).
Beat's Brian attempted the Garda Fitness Test this month. See how he got on here:
It is intended to run Garda recruitment campaigns on an annual basis to "ensure a steady stream of Garda trainees entering the Garda College".
At of the end of October 2023, there were 13,940 Garda members across the country (according to figures released by the Minister for Justice).
By James Cox
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