A Garda reserve based in Monaghan Town is taking part in the force's recruitment drive and recommends the volunteering role to people who want to give back to their community. Liam Stewart is one of three Garda Reserve officers based in Monaghan Town and has been proudly fulfilling his duties for the past 14 years. Two other reserve officers based in Cavan/Monaghan have went on to become full-time members. He describes the job as varied, rewarding and challenging.
He says his duties have included being a counsellor, social worker, first aider, traffic manager, giving reassurance, improving relations between members of the public and An Garda Síochána and, of course, assisting full-time Garda members in the complex role of crime investigation. For anyone interested in becoming a garda reserve, details of what is required and expected can be found on publicjobs.ie. The closing date for applications in this current recruitment process is Thursday, July 4th.
Garda Reserve Stewart also holds a full-time job but says An Garda Síochána make his policing duties work around his other commitments. "The hours work around you so, one of the other reserves in Monaghan would frequently have done afternoons and weekends," Liam explained, "I often did weekends and weekend nights. The third reserve in Monaghan frequently would've done Saturday nights and that's how he would've done hos hours. The current requirement is you're expected to do a minimum of 60 hours per year; it used to actually be a lot higher until recently so, 60 hours a year, that's quite manageable. Whereas most reserves who are active would do a lot more than that. Indeed, many reserves would've done 4-500 hours per year."
