The overwhelming majority of Garda members, including civilian workers, are ‘white Irish’, with the number of ethnic minority sworn or civilian members so small they do not statistically register in a diversity audit of the force.
The results of the audit show 98 per cent of Garda members or civilian workers are ‘white Irish’ while another one per cent was described as being white, but of a nationality other than Irish.
While other categories – black or ‘black Irish’ and Asian or ‘Asian Irish’ – were also surveyed under the study, the number of personnel in the Garda from those backgrounds was so small they did not register in the research findings. While one per cent of the population was Irish Traveller, that ethnic group also did not register in the findings about the Garda organisation.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he accepted more work was required to make the organisation more diverse. However, Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, also said the force was the first public service organisation to “compile complete figures on the diversity of its workforce”.
Describing the analysis as “valuable”, Mr Harris said it would help the Garda “in our goal to be a more diverse organisation”, adding the force was “committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce” in order to “reflect the society we serve”. He believed the research showed the Garda had made “good progress in gender diversity” and, to some extent, in “disability diversity”.
He pointed out “our level of female police officers is above the European average”, adding more than half of the senior leadership in the Garda was female. However, the garda recognised “we have a lot more work to do to increase our diversity”.
“During our recent recruitment campaign, for instance, we put a lot of time and effort into encouraging people from minority communities to consider a career in policing,” Mr Harris said. “An Garda Síochána wants people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to join us as it will strengthen the service we provide to the public.”
Aside from revealing the Garda was very close to an all ‘white Irish’ organisation, it also revealed 36 per cent of the workforce was female and that approximately 10 per cent of Garda employees in “back office” and other desk-based jobs had a disability.
The Garda provided anonymised personnel data to the CSO in a process that was expected to be extended to other parts of the public service. The Garda organisation data also reveals its has more members than the wider population who described themselves as Catholic and fewer Church of Ireland members or those describing themselves as of “no religion”.
Some 89 per cent of the Garda organisation – sworn members and civilian workers – described themselves as Roman Catholic, compared with 78 per cent nationally. One per cent of the Garda workforce was Church of Ireland, compared to three per cent of the wider population.
Some eight per cent of the Garda workforce described themselves as having “no religion” compared to 10 per cent nationally. Furthermore, one per cent of the Garda organisation, compared to six per cent nationally, described themselves as being of another stated religion. In the disability category, some four per cent of the Garda workforce replied ‘yes’ when asked if they had a disability, compared to 14 per cent nationally.
