Want to be a garda? Recruitment drive starts to find 600 new officers

Above: Gardai graduating at Templemore

Six hundred new gardai will be recruited next year, bring the total number of new recruits since September 2014 to 1,150.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has opened a recruitment campaign for 2016, after funding for the 600 new posts was announced in Budget 2016 last month.

A ban on Garda recruitment ended in 2013. At that stage, more than 24,000 applications were received for an initial 300 posts.

"Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan said today: "We've always attracted way more applicants than available positions,"

"We want to build on that, attracting people from every strand of Irish life to help us renew our culture while retaining our best traditions."

The Commissioner added people were attracted to the Force in part because of the variety of roles on offer, from community policing to detective work and forensics, to working with the dog unit or being part of the mounted unit. Secondments to overseas police services and to the United Nations are also a possibility.

She added: "I want people of every background, right throughout the country, to think about joining us and help to make us a beacon of modern policing."

Applications must be made through www.publicjobs.ie.  The closing date for applications is Tuesday, 5th January 2016.