Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

This will enable the Garda College to concentrate mainly on training new recruits. The OPW will advertise this week for expressions of interest in the provision of new accommodation for in-service training. This outsourced facility will provide classroom and lecture facilities for up to 100 gardaí. This facility will be used to provide courses for gardaí who are already inducted into the service; they return to the college for refresher and specialisation courses.

Second, the capacity of the Garda College will be significantly expanded next year. A new four storey block will be built, using efficient system-build methods. This will provide for central administration and free up teaching blocks for classroom use. There will also be new library and gym facilities. In addition, the general catering and canteen facilities will be expanded. The plans for this are well advanced by the OPW and were displayed at the press conference in Garda headquarters last Thursday.

Tenders for construction will be invited shortly and construction will be completed by the end of 2005 in time for the peak in-flow of recruits to the college, which will take place in February 2006. The enhanced capacity will also enable the return to the college of in-service training at the end of the concentrated recruitment phase. Parallel with that, work will also be undertaken on relocating the tactical training facility which will be displaced by the new building.

Third, the Garda Commissioner proposes to rebalance phase 3 of Garda training so that of the 16 weeks of this phase — there are five phases in total — all of which are currently spent in the college, the last four weeks will now be spent in Garda stations on practical training. This will further remove pressure on the college's facilities and also provide trainees with more intensive training experience.

Fourth, the recruitment campaign will start shortly. The commissioner will place advertisements in the national newspapers within the next six weeks inviting applicants to join the force and record numbers of recruits will be taken on. Each quarter, for the next three years, about 274 recruits will be taken into the college amounting to just short of 1,100 recruits each year. Taking into account projected retirements, it will lead to a combined organisational strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 as early as 2006. Mark my words, as early as 2006 there will be in uniform 14,000 members of the Garda Síochána.