Gardaí are to spend €4 million on the services of recruitment specialists to assist with hiring staff across a range of different roles over the next two years.
A series of new tenders issued by An Garda Síochána shows the force is separately planning to spend around €260,000 on hiring actors to engage in role play with officers engaged in specialist training.
A similar amount is also being set aside for expenditure on up to 4,000 pairs of black Oxford dress shoes for recruits at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
The largest tender sees gardaí setting a budget of €4 million for an end-to-end recruitment service over the one-year term of the contract which can be extended for up to a further 12 months.
Gardaí said there would be an overall requirement for up to 2,364 additional staff across all services, grades and disciplines under its ambitious recruitment programme.
The Government has set a target of increasing the strength of the Garda workforce to 15,000 members, 4,000 civilian staff and 2,000 Garda reserves.
Gardaí expects the winning bidder to assist with the recruitment of a minimum of 50 specialist roles within the first 12 months.
Gardaí said they expect the winning bidder to be known “for their recruitment expertise and access to wide networks of candidates in the market both nationally and internationally".
Among the specialist categories where vacancies are expected to arise are human resources, occupational health, communications, legal, finance, information technology and forensic cartographers and photographers.
Gardaí stressed that the winning bidder will be paid on the basis of a flat cost per person appointed with maximum fees ranging from €2,540 to €18,960 for various categories of roles.
However, gardaí have signalled they will want a discount of at least 30 per cent when the person recruited is an existing employee of An Garda Síochána or another agency under the aegis of the Department of Justice.
Gardaí said the winning bidder will take on the primary responsibility for managing the force’s additional workforce programme which will run in parallel with existing internal and external recruitment campaigns.
Professional actors
Meanwhile, gardaí are also due to spend around €250,000 in hiring professional actors to engage in role play to assess officers engaged in investigative and specialist training to deal with complex murder, organised crime and sexual abuse cases.
An Garda Síochána is seeking companies or agencies who will provide professional actors to assist with the assessment of participants in a specialist interview course that will be held at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary as well as other possible locations.
Gardaí said the course is designed to train specially selected members of An Garda Síochána and Tusla social workers to interview children aged under 18 years as well as people with intellectual disabilities who alleged they have been victims of offences for the purpose of recording evidence admissible in a trial.
Actors will be required to act out a scenario based on an allegation of a child claiming they were physically or sexually abused as part of the final examination of interviewers.
Actors will be supplied with a script at least two weeks before the course commences so they can familiarise themselves with what they have to do.
They will be required to play multiple interviewee types such as vulnerable, co-operative and resistant victims as well as have an understanding of the Garda Síochána interview model to allow interviewers demonstrate their various skills and behaviours.
Actors will also be expected to assume roles in line with cases involving murder, organised crime and sexual abuse cases.
The contract will be for a period of three years which can be extended for two periods of up to 12 months each.
It is estimated the value of the contract will be between €220,000 and 260,000.
The contract is seeking the provision of seven actors and one supervisor per course with an expected 13 courses per year involving 12 trainees.
Gardaí have also fixed a budget of up to €265,000 to be spent over the next four years on up to a maximum of 4,000 pairs of black leather dress shoes.
The footwear is needed for use by Garda recruits when they are required to wear a dress uniform for certain ceremonies and ceremonial drill training.
