Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 November 2016
28. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in regard to the refurbishment of the Garda College in Templemore; the status of recruitment and proposals to extend and expand accommodation and facilities to cater for the additional demand at the Garda College; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34894/16]
View answerAt present there are 450 students in the Garda College. Another 200 students will start next week, on 20 November, and next year, from February to November, there will be 800 new recruits. While that expansion and development is to be welcomed, and in particular the recruitment, it creates practical and logistical problems at the college. I would like to hear what plans the Minister has to address these issues.
The Deputy will be aware the Garda College was reopened following the lifting of the moratorium on Garda recruitment. Since then, 1,200 trainee gardaí have passed through the college and it is envisaged, as the Deputy said, that 800 new recruits will enter in 2017. Since the college reopened, 534 recruits have been attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, and another 150 trainee gardaí will be attested this Thursday, 17 November. Taking account of projected retirements, this will bring Garda numbers to around the 13,000 mark.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that a number of new facilities were built at the college in the early 2000s, including new administration, catering and recreation facilities.
It is accepted that the college infrastructure is in need of further modernisation and I support that.
Indeed, a major Office of Public Works, OPW, programme of works to improve fire safety at the accommodation blocks at the college is well advanced and I understand that work on some five of the seven blocks requiring upgrades has been completed.
However, due to the increased recruitment under the Government’s accelerated recruitment programme, the enhanced training and development strategy that forms part of the Garda Síochána's five-year modernisation and renewal programme and a move away from lecture hall-type courses, a requirement for additional classrooms has been identified. This will be progressed by the Garda authorities in conjunction with the Office of Public Works to examine what precisely is needed in the college and we will move to initial design stage as soon as possible.
The Garda authorities are also working to establish the long-term needs with a view to identifying improvements within the existing campus boundary as well as the potential need to develop facilities and spaces outside the boundary. We are committed to ensuring that not only are gardaí recruited and trained but that we have the appropriate setting for them in Templemore to do their training.
I welcome the Tánaiste's positive response. Does she have within her budget the necessary resources to complete the work under way and to deliver an expansion and development, in-house and on the campus, of more bedroom accommodation, lecture rooms and classroom space, which is urgently required, and to address the parking issues that have arisen around the college and in the town? Will the Minister ensure that when the Office of Public Works is considering this expansion programme for the college, it does not interfere with or interrupt in any way the local golf club, which is adjacent to and part of the college? The golf club has 300 members who use the facility regularly. They value and appreciate it and we do not want that to be interfered with. The accelerated and expanded recruitment is very welcome for Templemore and it helps to address the deficit in Garda numbers nationally. The college makes an enormous contribution to the town and hinterland of Templemore. I am happy that the Minister says there will be development works within the college and that this work will not be farmed out to other areas or other countries outside Tipperary.
There is a budget in place to continue the fire safety work and the upgrading of accommodation in five of the seven blocks. There is further work to be done on the additional classrooms and I envisage that this will go ahead. In respect of the long-term training needs and the improvements that need to be made within the existing campus boundary, in the first instance we must work with the OPW to provide an initial design scheme. We hope to see that develop in the next few months and we will then examine the budgetary implications of that part of the programme.
The golf club lands the Deputy speaks of are owned by the OPW, which leased them in 1998 to a company called Garda College Sportsfield Company Limited whose objectives at the time included the development of recreational facilities for students of the Garda College and in the spirit of community engagement, members of the local community in Templemore joined the golf club.
