Gardai say 16 new officers who graduated on Thursday are from outside of the Republic of Ireland.
New cops from New Zealand, Lithuania, Angola, Croatia, Poland, England, Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, Scotland were among 102 overall who were sworn into the force at its training college at a passing out ceremony in Templemore, Tipperary.
Figures show that 64 of them were men and 38 were women.
It brings the overall number of gardai to 14,396, while there are 401 garda reserves, 3,345 staff and 81 recruits currently in training.
This crop of new gardai began their training in September 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It meant they had to undertake a blend of on-line learning, on-site learning in the Garda College, and experiential learning in training Garda stations.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said: “The training to become a Garda is demanding under any normal circumstances. But undertaking the programme during the public health crisis will have made it all the more challenging for this intake of 102 trainees.
“I admire their personal strength and dedication in seeing the programme through to today’s attestation.”
He added: “We have one of the highest levels of female police officers in Europe, but we recognise that there is still work to do.
“We have to continue encouraging women and those from diverse backgrounds to join An Garda Síochána.
“Close to 40% of the new Gardaí passing out today are women. The 102 trainees represent 11 different nationalities including Saudi Arabia, Guatemala and Lithuania.”
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