The Garda Commissioner is by law responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including all matters related to training and recruitment. As Minister, I have no direct role in these operational matters. I am assured however that the distribution of resources between the different Garda units and specialist roles is kept under constant review, in light of operational needs.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that the cost of training 22 Garda members and the cost of two trainers who provided the Forensic Collision Investigator Training course amounted to £163,960 (approximately €197,600)
I am further advised that 12 Garda members are fully trained Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) and that a further eight members are currently undergoing FCI training.
I am also informed that the external organisation paid to run the FCI training was AITs Ai Training services.