Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

A Garda Síochána college or a police academy could easily become the seventh faculty in the DIT. The 70-acre site has 30 acres of playing fields and will have a wide range of other sporting facilities. It is located in an inner city urban setting and reflects the general context of where most policing work is carried out in a modern Ireland that has rapidly changed from rural to urban in character. Garda students would mix and interact with their peers in other third level disciplines, not just with their trainee colleagues as currently.

The Grangegorman site is ideally located for in-service courses and for further education. Research studies in such areas as policing methods, crime statistics and criminology could be established and an integrated policy dimension could be added. It should be possible to share some facilities with the PSNI, to establish a link with the new police college in Northern Ireland and with police forces in Europe and elsewhere. A Garda college in Dublin would not replace Templemore, but rather add an extra dimension that would make the Garda Síochána a thoroughly modern and professional force in tune with best policing practice anywhere in the world.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law reform should seize the opportunity that now presents itself and undertake a root and branch review of the Garda Síochána. That is imperative.

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