Two new Gardai to be assigned to Athlone

A total of 194 Garda recruits will be graduating from Templemore today (Friday), and two of the new Gardai will be assigned to Athlone Garda Station.

One of the new officers will also be assigned to Mullingar.

At the previous Garda graduation ceremony, in August, two of the 154 graduates were assigned to Westmeath - both to Mullingar. Today's graduations bring the total number of new Gardaí this year to almost 600.

Local Government representatives welcomed the allocation of three additional Gardai to the county, with Minister of State Robert Troy saying it marks another positive step in strengthening community policing and public safety.

"I'm delighted to see real momentum building when it comes to Garda recruitment and the allocation of new members to communities across the country," said Minister of State Troy.

"The Justice Minister has made Garda recruitment a top priority since taking office, and we are now seeing the results of that focus.

"This is ultimately about restoring public confidence in our Garda force and ensuring they have the resources they need by getting more Gardaí on the beat in every community. The best way to strengthen public trust and ensure people feel safe is through greater Garda visibility and accessibility in our towns and villages."

This year, for the first time, there were two Garda recruitment competitions. A campaign in February attracted 6,784 applicants, while the second campaign, last month, received 4,334 applications.

Today's graduation ceremony in Templemore will see 137 male and 57 female Garda recruits being sworn in as members of the force. Eighteen of the new Gardai were born outside the State - in England, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.

As of today, An Garda Síochána consists of 14,481 sworn Gardaí, 312 Garda Reserves and 3,657 Garda staff.