144 new recruits will join the Garda ranks today.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan will attend the passing out ceremony in Templemore.

Both Minister Fitzgerald and Commissioner O'Sullivan will make an address at the ceremony this afternoon.

Commissioner’s Prize Medal and the Gary Sheehan Memorial Medal will also be awarded by Commissioner O’Sullivan today.

The students are made up of 103 male and 41 female gardaí.

Garda representative bodies have been making repeated appeals for higher pay for members - particularly probationers, whose starting salary is €23,000.