A retired Cavan garda says the decision to raise the recruitment age into the force from 35 to 50 years “wreaks of desperation”.
John Wilson also called suggestions the Minister may also be planning to raise the retirement age for officers to over 60 as “a knee-jerk reaction”.
The guard, who qualified over 40 years ago, was speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show earlier.
He pointed to the fact that after a guard qualifies from Templemore, it takes two more years of training and a further two-year probationary period before a guard is considered fully trained.
John Wilson said it would be better if the Minister for Justice focused on the reasons why guards are not joining the force and are leaving in their numbers.
“The Minister for Justice should spend time figuring out why so many guards are leaving and why nobody wants to join the force,” Mr Wilson said.
“When I joined An Garda Síochána over 40 years ago, it was a safe, secure and pensionable job. Now, it’s neither safe nor secure and you have many gardaí working, living on their nerves because they are afraid of being suspended or sacked.
“And I’m talking about guards with 20+plus years of service,” he added.
