Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware the Garda College was re-opened 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 re-opened, 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.

See this speech in context