DUBLIN — An Garda Síochána’s latest recruitment campaign has attracted over 11,000 applicants in 2025, demonstrating a strong public interest in joining the police force. Officials have highlighted a significant “trend of increased diversity” among the applicants.
The Public Appointments Service-conducted campaign saw a notable shift in the profile of potential Gardaí:
- Diversity: 23% of applicants identified themselves as being from a non-“white Irish” background. This marks a sharp drop from 88% of applicants identifying as “white Irish” in the 2019 campaign, with the current figure standing at 70%. Non-white Irish ethnic categories include ‘Asian’ (5%), ‘black’ (2%), and ‘other including mixed’ (3%).
- Gender: Almost a third (32%) of applicants are women, continuing a trend that keeps the force’s overall female representation (30%) above the European police service average.
- Age: 40% of applicants were aged 30 or over, indicating a successful drive to attract candidates with broader life experience.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly welcomed the high level of interest, stating it provides a “strong pipeline” for growing the force in the coming years. “This number of applicants so soon after our last competition in February demonstrates there is a lot of interest in making a difference to communities by becoming a garda,” he said.
Capacity Challenge for Government Target
Despite the robust recruitment interest, the Gardaí face capacity challenges in meeting the government’s aggressive growth target. At the end of last month, An Garda Síochána had 14,325 officers with another 564 trainees.
The government has set a target of recruiting 5,000 new Gardaí over its five-year term, which requires approximately 1,000 new recruits annually. However, a working group recently reported that the Garda College at Templemore lacks the current capacity to train 1,000 new Gardaí yearly.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan acknowledged the difficulty, calling the 1,000-recruit target “achievable but challenging.”
“What we are in at the moment is that we can take in approximately 800 to 900 in Templemore in terms of each intake, so we want to try and get that capacity up to 1,000,” the Minister confirmed.
