Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

In my opening submission I mentioned training, development and support. I also mentioned to Deputy Niall Collins that in the case of the students in the college, we wanted, as Mr. Dunne said, to ensure training, development and support would be available within the field, but we very much see this as part of the infrastructure to provide for the continuous professional development of all our members, not just students. Certainly in the last while, due to nobody's fault, gaps have appeared in training and we are conscious of the need to prioritise the filling of those gaps. With the executive director of HRPD and our director of training, a programme of continuous professional development is being prioritised. We are looking at mechanisms on how to deliver it differently from how it was delivered in the past, whether it should be delivered closer to source or online. We have a number of collaborations with academic institutions and professional bodies to provide sworn members, but also Garda staff members, with CPD and professional accreditation.