Garda College ‘needs investment’

The Garda College needs significant investment in facilities and training staff to meet election promises of 600 to 700-plus recruits a year as it is already operating at “maximum” with 450 recruits.

Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors president Tim Galvin said the canteen at Templemore College was currently being used for training because of lack of rooms and that about half of the students are not living in the college and are scattered around the town.

He said extra training staff could not be taken on as the frontline was “haemorrhaging” gardaí, with some districts operating with just one garda available for regular duties.

“At the moment, there are 450 recruits at Templemore and it’s up to the max. Anything above that we’re going to struggle,” said Mr Galvin.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has already said 600 students would go through the college in 2016 — a number Fine Gael has promised for each of the next five years, if returned to power.

The Taoiseach has been forced to apologise for his 'whingers' remark https://t.co/gZKgB9tWmm pic.twitter.com/xsBivplrXL

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 22, 2016

The Labour Party is promising recruitment of 700 gardaí per year, while the Fianna Fáil manifesto is suggesting an even higher figure.

“With 600 a year, staff are saying that they don’t know where they are going to put them,” said Mr Galvin.

“Anything more than 450 I don’t think the staff can cope. We don’t have the staff, we don’t have the physical space and we don’t have the accommodation.

“We have shipped half the students out of the college to homes in the area, that will tell you how small the accommodation is.” He said a lot of the training was based around dealing with different scenarios, which he said was “labour intensive” and required physical space.

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“You need a lot of break out rooms and the big problem is they don’t have the classrooms, so they are using the canteen during the day. That’s as bad as it is already.” He said garda management would have to hire space from elsewhere, such as hotels, which they have done in the past, to train and accommodate students.

He said two blocks at Templemore were closed for health and safety reasons, including asbestos in the roofing.

He estimated it will take at least two years to complete that work, which could expand capacity by 250 when finished. Mr Galvin said the issue of training staff was critical: “We don’t have enough staff and we can’t take anymore off the street.

“We are haemorrhaging all the time. All the specialist units are looking for bodies and there’s now a new Regional Support Unit for Dublin. We have many districts where there’s only one garda.” He put the current strength of the force at 12,470, while Garda management put it at 12,798. The latter figure is thought to include probationary gardaí out from Templemore.

The Tánaiste has responded to the Taoiseach's 'whingers' comment https://t.co/K2Trd0BMen pic.twitter.com/t7fFQSXimT

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 22, 2016

Garda management sources said Templemore “can deal with 600 in terms of students”, although they accepted there was an issue with accommodation.

One senior source said that if the next government decided to increase recruitment to 700 or 800, Garda management would put in “contingency plans” to find locations for the training and accommodation.

“We realise you can’t just throw the extra 150 in on top of the 600. You would have to invest in staff and facilities,” he said.

He accepted there was an imperative to ensure the quality of training was not compromised, as was the case during the accelerated recruitment of the early to mid-2000s.

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