Applicants for the Garda College from the 2022 and 2023 process who are still waiting for their vetting to be completed have expressed frustration after An Garda Síochána decided to admit 2024 applicants while their vetting is still ongoing.
Several applicants from the 2022 and 2023 competition contacted BreakingNews.ie to express their frustration at the change, which they say they were not notified about.
Emails sent to 2024 applicants [which can be seen in the picture] congratulated them on admittance to the Garda College in Templemore, while acknowledging their vetting was still ongoing.
The emails note "your application process is now in the final stages of Garda vetting, enabling us now to offer you a trainee position".
They add: "This vetting process will complete as soon as possible and may extend into the training period". It adds that the vetting process must be completed "by the end of the training period".
One applicant, who wished to speak anonymously, said: "I'm waiting over a year for vetting. They won't contact you, they won't give you any update.
"They've now brought in a new system where they've decided only applicants in the 2024 competition can get into the Garda College without being vetted."
The rigorous application process includes online exams, a written interview, a fitness test, a medical examination, and three local station interviews.
The applicant added: "I can't wrap my head around the logic behind it, but it's only being offered to the 2024 candidates who are being let in on a 'conditional offer of employment' provided your vetting is completed while you're in the college. I'm assuming all the resources of vetting will be prioritised for the trainees who are in the college to get their vetting sorted quickly. They won't want a situation where it's time for them to graduate and their vetting is incomplete... so now the people who have gone through everything are waiting and have been forgotten.
"The people who have been waiting a long time will not benefit from this at all, only the people that have applied this year, who will get this conditional offer.
"They're letting people into the college without their vetting complete. In the 2024 information booklet which is released for every campaign, it has a list of conditions and it says 'all of these conditions must be met before we're in a position to offer you a place in the training college' and one of these is vetting, so they've gone away from that completely.
"Obviously they've said 'we need numbers, they're looking bad, we'll let these people into the college and get their vetting finished while they're in the college'.
"They're completely changing the rules as they go along. If you ask for the justification it's not there, they change the rules to suit them as they need the rules to be changed."
The applicant said it feels like a "slap in the face".
They leave you in limbo and then decide to offer the latest applicants the opportunity to get into the college without their vetting being completed.
"They leave you in limbo and then decide to offer the latest applicants the opportunity to get into the college without their vetting being completed."
The number of gardaí fell during the summer months as efforts to increase the size of the force to the Government target of 15,000 continued to falter.
While the force aims to recruit 200 to the Garda College each year, an increasing number of successful candidates have been turning down places in the last two years.
Despite this, others have been left waiting.
The applicant said the measure made sense as the vetting process appears to be backlogged. However, they pointed out it is unfair that 2024 applicants are being admitted while those from the 2022 and 2023 competitions are left waiting.
In September, a number of Garda College applicants who had been left waiting on vetting for over six months contacted BreakingNews.ie. They said they were told "suitability checks outstanding" when they enquired about their progress, but were not given any specifics when they followed up.
BreakingNews.ie has contacted An Garda Síochána for comment.
