A TRANCHE of 17 new gardaí have been assigned to Cork from the 201 gardaí who passed out from the Garda College in Templemore yesterday.

Eleven are being allocated to Cork city while the remaining six are being sent to stations in the Cork North division.

In Cork city, Anglesea Street will have five of the new personnel, while Gurranabraher has been allocated four and Togher two.

In Cork North, Fermoy and Midleton are being assigned three new gardaí each.

In recent weeks, chief superintendent Barry McPolin told Cork City's Joint Policing Committee that there have already been 12 gardaí allocated to Cork city since the start of this year.

Yesterday's passing out means there are now 14,467 gardaí. A garda spokesman said the amount is “the largest number of sworn Garda members in 10 years”.

Three more classes are expected to pass out from the college this year.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said: “There are 19 Probationer Gardaí in this Intake born outside the State - in Germany, Romania, England, USA, Latvia, Australia, Hong Kong, Poland and Italy. 28% of the probationer Gardaí that attested are women. The number of women in An Garda Síochána has steadily increased. There are 57 women attesting and 144 men.” He added: “The budgetary allocation to An Garda Síochána for 2020 will allow the Garda Commissioner to recruit up to 700 new Gardaí and additional Garda Staff in 2020.” Speaking at the graduation, the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said that it was important to acknowledge victims, particularly as today is European Day for Victims of Crime.

He said: “Becoming a victim of a crime can be deeply traumatic. Whether the crime involved is relatively minor or horrifically major, any such experience can shake a person and leave them feeling vulnerable, unsafe and afraid. Of course, after a crime, the first encounter that a victim will have is often with a Garda. And crucially, the nature of that interaction – the way in which you and your colleagues deal with what could be the most difficult moment in someone’s life – is of lasting importance. It will shape a person’s view of the entire criminal justice system. So please, always treat people with respect and dignity and listen to their concerns.” He added that a Crime Victims Charter has now been developed to expand on the protections for victims.

He said: “It can be daunting for victims of crime to navigate the criminal justice system as they also try to recover from whatever was perpetrated on them.”