ONLY 25 of the more than 13,000 gardaí in Ireland are immigrants, according to the latest figures released by the Garda Press Office.
Just 25 immigrants have enlisted into the ranks of An Garda Síochána despite a long-running campaign by Ireland’s police force to attract ethnic minorities. Some of this number have already graduated and are maintaining order in Ireland’s towns and villages, while others are still undergoing training at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
All have spent at least five years in Ireland, and none were drafted in from overseas, a Garda spokesperson has confirmed. They include 14 Chinese nationals, two Romanians, two Polish, and one officer each from South Africa, America, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece and Lithuania.
The force remains optimistic that recruitment of people with immigrant backgrounds will increase, having dropped the mandatory Irish language requirement over three years ago in order to encourage minorities to join.
“We’re getting many applications from ethnic minorities,” said a Garda source. “But processing them takes longer than in the case of an Irish person as this entails sending files to their home countries. Getting information from other countries often causes delays.”
Another reason for the low number of immigrant recruits is the English language requirement.
“You have to be proficient in both spoken and written English,” said Tatiana Logvinova from Belarus, who is a member of the Garda Reserve, the force’s volunteer wing. “The job also entails answering phone enquiries and you have to understand the various Irish accents.
A few friends of mine from the Baltics applied to become gardaí, but they failed because their English was not good enough.” Logvinova said another reasons preventing immigrants from joining were family and mortgage commitments.
“A lot of people who have spent five years in Ireland [as required by recruitment regulations] have a family here, and many also have mortgages. If you’re joining you have to move to Templemore, and later you can be directed to serve away from home. Many people are not prepared for this.
” She said she was aware of many examples of immigrant families advising their children to join the gardaí as soon as they finish their schooling because it is a good way to integrate into Irish society.
Logvinova added that she was very happy with her work in the Garda Reserve and would have joined the force full-time if it wasn’t for her work and family situation. She said she has never encountered any discrimination or problems with the locals because of her immigrant background.
The Garda Reserve has 20 non-Irish members, including those still in training.
