Ms Margaret Tumelty:

We have engaged with training this year. The authority's staff did significant research and the authority had a full-day meeting in Templemore solely devoted to training. The training deficits we see are not to do with resources. Obviously, resources are needed and we would expect the resources to be maintained. The training deficits we see include the absence of a training strategy and a serious absence of continued professional development. In our recent quarterly report we drew attention to something that has been commented on by many commentators, the fact that a very large number of gardaí - this was in "Changing Policing in Ireland" as well - leave Templemore without being trained in blue light driving. That is not due to money. That is down to organisation of training, strategy and prioritisation. We have developed some proposals and ideas following our engagement with the Garda. We have set some of them out in public through the mechanism of the quarterly report and we are planning a further engagement particularly around CPD and the performance management piece, which we think is enormously important. Finally, we must see the code of ethics embedded at all levels in the training strategy. Throwing money at this will not fix it.