Garda Mary Beamish at her passing out parade in Templemore in July Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

GARDA COMMISSIONER NOIRÍN O’Sullivan has called on more women to join the force with the announcement that a host of new Garda jobs are on the way.

As promised both beforehand and by public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin in the budget itself, 600 new Garda positions are to be created in the force in 2016. The roles will be filled in conjunction with the public appointments service.

Details of how to apply can be found here.

The Commissioner is hopeful that the trend of large numbers of women joining, as has been seen in recent recruitment drives, continues.

“When I joined An Garda Síochána in 1981, I was one of a tiny minority of women,” O’Sullivan said today when announcing the new positions.

Now, over a quarter of gardaí are women. I hope that trend continues.

At the same time the Commissioner is hopeful that this intake of recruits will be as diverse as possible.

A passing out parade at the Garda college, Templemore, Co Tipperary, in July Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie Eamonn Farrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

“I hope we get lots of applications from every strand of Irish society. Why? Because we are of the community and should reflect the changes in our communities,” she said.

We already have different nationalities and backgrounds represented in An Garda Síochána, but not enough.

I want people of every background, right throughout the country, to think about joining us and help to make us a beacon of modern policing.

The force has said that it hopes this latest recruitment hunt will see it become a “magnet employer”.

Over 24,000 applications were received for just 300 positions when the moratorium on Garda recruitment was lifted in 2013.

“We’ve always attracted way more applicants than available positions,” O’Sullivan said.

We want to build on that, attracting people from every strand of Irish life to help us renew our culture while retaining our best traditions.

Being a member of An Garda Síochána can be an incredibly rewarding career.

It also demands courage. Above all, it demands high standards. We need all our people to work with us to create an organisation that attracts and rewards people of the highest calibre.

The closing date for applications for the new posts is 5 January, 2016.

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