GRA dismisses increase in garda training allowance as 'a paltry crumb'
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Frontline garda representatives have described as "a paltry crumb" an increase in the training allowance announced today by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
The dismissal by the Garda Representative Association comes as Fine Gael holds a “think in” in Co Offaly, with law and order positioned by Taoiseach Simon Harris as a key priority.
Ms McEntee announced at the event in Tullamore that she was increasing the garda trainee allowance from €305 per week to €354.
Last October, in Budget 2024, the minister secured a 66% rise in the allowance to €305.
She said it was one of a number of actions she was taking to boost Garda recruitment.
As repeatedly documented in the this year, attempts to increase recruitment have failed to push the strength of the organisation much beyond the 14,000 mark, and towards the long-term target of 15,000.
Announcing the increase, Ms McEntee said: “This will build on the previous increase (from €184 to €305) and represents an almost doubling of the allowance in the last 12 months.
“This is one of a number of actions I am taking to support Garda recruitment and retention.”
She said she has established a Garda Recruitment Training Capacity Group to make recommendations on additional actions to increase recruitment — and that this is due to report shortly.
Last July, Garda Chief Corporate Officer Siobhan Toale said around 600 students were recruited in 2023 and that “all going well” over 700 would be taken into Templemore College this year.
But she said these numbers are “not sufficient to meet current and growing needs of the organisation”.
The numbers are considerably lower than Government statements of 1,000 garda recruits in 2023 and between 800 and 1,000 in 2024.
Figures for the end of July show the garda strength is at 14,064, down from 14,100 the previous month.
It has hovered slightly below or above the 14,000 figure all year and compares to 13,960 at the end of January.
Commenting on Ms McEntee’s announcement, GRA General Secretary Ronan Slevin said: "While we welcome the fact that the Minister has acknowledged that there is a serious issue with the current Garda Training Allowance, this proposed increase represents little more than a paltry crumb to plug the vast gap between the rate of payment versus the cost of living.
"€354 per week over the 34 weeks of training amounts to little over €12,000 and I am not sure how anyone could survive on that pay, particularly during their 10 weeks when trainee gardaí can be deployed to large cities for 'on the job' training with exponential living costs," Mr Slevin said.
"Minister McEntee has consistently stated that law and order is at the top of her priority list yet the treatment, pay and conditions of gardaí, as well as our demands that she take real decisive action to deal with our ongoing recruitment and retention crisis, seems to have been met with another half-hearted response.
"Our position is that trainee gardaí should at the very least be taking home the equivalent of 80% of the rate of first year qualified gardaí to make ends meet but this measure falls far short of that."
He said it was "particularly galling" that they first heard out about the announcement through a Fine Gael press release.