A TOTAL OF 6,784 people applied to become a garda during a recruitment campaign last month.

The campaign, which ran from 7 February until 27 February, saw a dramatic rise in interest on last year, when 6,381 people applied.

Of these applicants, almost a third (32%) are female, and 42% are aged 30 and over.

More than one in five applicants 23% have an ethnic background “other than white Irish”, according to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.

“An Garda Síochána is a community-focused policing service so it is important that it reflect our diverse and thriving communities,” O’Callaghan said in a statement today.

These applicants will now enter into a competitive selection process involving a number of stages including online aptitude tests (Stage 1), competency based interview (Stage 2), and fitness test (Stage 3).

O’Callaghan described the high number of applications as “hugely positive” for gardaí.

“I hope this will help to change the recent narrative around its workforce,” O’Callaghan said.

He added that he believes the high number of applications “shows that the message that this is a job worth doing is resonating with the public”.

The Government is aiming to recruit 5,000 new gardaí over the next five years.

O’Callaghan has previously admitted that it will be “a challenge” to recruit 1,000 gardaí every year until 2030.

The latest garda figures show that 631 recruits entered Templemore College last year – significantly short of the 800-1,000 target set by the Government.

It marks a drop from the number recruited the previous year, when 746 recruits were taken on, which was short of the minimum target of 800.

The figure seems to be increasing so far this year however, as today, the largest intake of trainee Gardaí in six years was inducted in to Templemore.

201 trainees entered the Garda College, the highest number since 2019.

“We have already taken a number of significant measures to boost recruitment and we will continue to explore all options,” O’Callaghan said.

“More and more Gardaí are coming through this College and onto our streets and this shows these measures are working.”