LAST UPDATE | 20 Feb 2025

GARDAÍ HAVE DROPPED push-ups and sit-ups from its physical entry test, saying that they no longer consider them a useful way of measuring applicants.

An Garda Síochána has announced a series of changes to its infamous physical competency test which garda trainee applicants need to pass as part of their application process.

As well as removing push-ups and sit-ups, another big change is that all applicants, regardless of age or gender, will face a standardised level on the ‘beep’ test (running back and forth over 20 metres repeatedly under increasing time pressure).

There were previously differentiated targets for candidates depending on their age and gender.

The exam is also replacing a task that involved dragging a mannequin with a ‘push/pull’ obstacle in the circuit test section.

An Garda Síochána said that the push ups and sit ups “required a subjective element and lacked face validity”, adding that “face validity is whether a test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure”.

“The introduction of a standardised pass/ fail for all applicants, as the pre-employment physical fitness/ competence test is to ensure that all applicants, irrespective of age or gender, are able to do the same operational activity,” it said.

A review of the physical competency test began in summer 2024, conducted by an external expert from Dundalk Institute of Technology.

“The new Garda Physical Competency Test continues to provide An Garda Síochána with a reassurance that prospective Garda Trainee candidates possess the acceptable level of pre-employment physical fitness/ competence,” a statement to media said.

The test has two main sections, which are completed one straight after the other: the beep test and an obstacle course. Both must be successfully completed within eight minutes and four seconds in total.

The obstacle course involves:

• Sprint start
• Weave through cones
• Walk along a balance beam
• Lift a car wheel and carry it three metres
• Go underneath a barrier
• Jump over a mat (one metre wide)
• Push a sled six metres
• Pull a sled six metres
• Run up and down a flight of stairs
• Climb over a gate
• Sprint 10 metres

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan previously criticised the physical entry test, saying that he felt it was too demanding.

In 2023 – while he was a TD but not a minister – O’Callaghan tried out the test himself and passed.

“I appreciate that a basic level of fitness is a prerequisite for a Garda but I believe the current test may be disqualifying those who have difficulty completing a strenuous obstacle course,” O’Callaghan said.

“A more sensible approach, in my view, would be to design the test to ascertain the candidate’s current level of fitness and an intensive programme be tailored accordingly on admission, should the recruit exhibit a baseline level of fitness.”

Last year, gardaí invited journalists to the Garda College at Templemore to have a go at the test. The Journal’s own News Editor Daragh Brophy gave it a whirl.

The Journal News Editor Daragh Brophy jumps over a farm gate. Standard work day. Alamy Alamy