Gardaí fear training will be done ‘on cheap’

Gardaí fear that training for the next batch of Garda recruits — the first in five years — will be done “on the cheap”.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said that while the restart of recruitment in July was welcome and much needed, no funding was being set aside for it.

“My concern is that there is no funding earmarked for the training of these new people,” said AGSI president Tim Galvin.

He said Templemore Garda College had received “little investment” for years and many of its staff had been transferred.

He said the new training programme was labour intensive and costly. “There is no budget for new staff, new equipment for classrooms, Pulse machines, computers, etc,” he said.

“The fear is that no budget was ring-fenced for recruitment, meaning that the budget required to provide this training will come from within the current budget and we will do things on the cheap.

“The new recruits will be the lifetime of An Garda Síochána into the future, but it will probably mean a cut to frontline services.”

Mr Galvin said the AGSI was insisting that Justice Minister Alan Shatter provided the Garda College with a specific budget for training. He pointed out that €5m was spent on buying Dromad, a house and land near the college, supposed to the new tactical facility for the force.

“Cutbacks have meant that the building has rotted and is currently condemned, said Mr Galvin. “It was heralded by the Department of Justice as bringing training within An Garda Síochána in line with best practice among police forces across the world. It has turned into an embarrassment.”

Mr Galvin said investment in Garda buildings had fallen dramatically. He said the divisional headquarters in Tralee was, in the words of local branch delegate Kieran O’Connell, “unfit for purpose”. Some stations do not have disabled access.

Mr Galvin also said that middle-ranking gardaí were “being drowned in a sea of bureaucracy”. Working in a busy Dublin station, he said, he was moving a “rain forest” of paper every day.

“Six forms have to be filled out to keep a record of what people work and hours are spent calculating whether people are getting appropriate rest,” said Mr Galvin. “This administrative burden is unsustainable.”