No new gardaí for nine years, conference hears

IT could be 2020 before there are new garda recruits, which will make it “impossible” for gardaí to carry out their functions, according to middle-ranking officers.

The annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) heard there were almost 1,300 gardaí eligible to retire out of a current strength of 14,200.

This could allow the Government to meet its target to reduce the force to 13,500 by the end of this year and to 13,000 by 2013.

The conference also heard concerns about the quality of training provided to recruits in recent years and the existence of a small number of trainees that were being kept on in Templemore Garda College despite having already failed three times to graduate.

Research was also published which found that only half of sergeants and inspectors surveyed felt they were adequately trained for their job.

Tim Galvin, chairman of the AGSI Training Review Group, said the last of the 160 probationary gardaí in Templemore were graduating in June.

“There will be no recruits graduating before 2016 and that’s if they start recruiting in 2014. It could be 2020 before there are new graduates,” said Sgt Galvin.

He said this, combined with cuts in the current strength, will make it “impossible” for gardaí to carry out their functions.

He said due to the “aggressive intake” of recruits in the recent past, up to 300 trainees had been crammed into classes.

“They were not getting proper training because the numbers were too big.”

He said there was a small number at Templemore now writing their dissertation for the fourth time, having failed three times.

He said garda management was determined to accommodate them so as to keep garda numbers as high as possible.

Sgt Larry Cody, from Dublin Metropolitan Region West, said that in his station, Blanchardstown, detectives had to use their own personal laptops to replay CCTV disks to suspects they were questioning, as there were no official facilities to do so.

“Garda policy says we can only use official encrypted laptops, but really if we were not using our own equipment, the job would be on its knees,” he said.

Sgt Paul Muldowney from the Garda Technical Bureau in Garda Headquarters said that €160,000 was supposed to be available for training officers in essential expertise, such as fingerprinting, but only €2,000 had been made available.

Sgt Galvin said there was no funding available to install digital recording facilities in interview rooms to replace the current system involving videotapes.