Over 6,300 apply to become gardaí in recruitment drive

6,381 people have applied to An Garda Síochána under 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% (36.6 per cent) of applicants for the 2024 competition were people aged between 35 and 49.

This year's recruitment campaign was the first since the Government decided to increase the age limit to apply to become a garda from 35 to 50.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the change provided the opportunity to people who thought their chance had passed or who were considering a change of career to join An Garda Síochána.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that older people would bring experience and diversity to the force, adding that the move was in line with people living longer and changing jobs more often.

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.”

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).

It is intended to run Garda recruitment campaigns on an annual basis to ensure a steady stream of Garda trainees entering the Garda College.