New Garda recruits for south Kildare

South Kildare is to get five of 10 new Garda recruits which have been allocated to the county, writes Brian Byrne.

These are from 150 recruits who graduated from Templemore Garda Training College yesterday.

The allocation has been welcomed by Deputy Martin Heydon, who says funding has been provided in 2017 for the recruitment of 800 Garda recruits and up to 500 civilians to support the wide ranging reform plan in train in An Garda Síochána.

“Taking account of projected retirements, reaching a strength of 15,000 will require some 3,200 new Garda members to be recruited on a phased basis over the next four years,” he said, “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. This is an ambitious target and will require a continuous pipeline of suitable candidates.”