Around 3,200 new gardaí will be recruited on a phased basis over the next four years, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said today.

Speaking at the launch of a new Garda recruitment campaign, she reiterated the Government’s commitment to increase the strength of the force to 15,000 members.

“Today is a very important day for An Garda Síochána. It marks the formal launch on www.publicjobs.ie of the commencement of a recruitment campaign for new members of An Garda Síochána,” she said.

“It reflects the Government’s commitment to seamless ongoing recruitment to An Garda Síochána to ensure that the service is renewed and has the capacity to provide visible, responsive and effective policing to every community throughout the country.”

Taking account of projected retirements, reaching a strength of 15,000 will require in addition to the 1,200 that will have been recruited by the end of this year since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014.

So far 534 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and are on the ground in communities nationwide.

Another 150 recruits are due to attest later this year.

“It is essential to ensure that An Garda Síochána has the capacity to train larger numbers without any diminution in the quality of its training programme, and to provide appropriate supervision and support to newly qualified Gardaí to ensure that victims and the public are well served,” said the Tánaiste.

“I welcome the detailed planning process that the Commissioner and her team have in place to ensure the delivery of increased numbers of Gardaí without any compromise on the quality of those recruited or the training programme.

“The new campaign will, in addition to an Irish language stream, include a special stream for eligible members of the Garda Reserve who give their time on a voluntary basis to support the work of An Garda Síochána.”

The existing recruitment campaign (launched last November) is ongoing and successful candidates will continue to be called from that campaign this year and into next year.

It is expected that successful candidates from the new campaign will enter the Garda College from mid-2017.