Emer Currie: Calls for a Second Garda College in Blanchardstown

Taoiseach, I warmly welcome the latest Garda recruitment campaign and it is very encouraging to see that we are on track to surpass 15,000 Gardaí by the end of this year. As the state recruits more Gardaí, I want to talk today about how the state trained Gardaí and where. The town of Templemoor has served this state well, hosting the Garda College that has trained men and women who have proudly served the people of this country as our Gardaí. I hope the Garda College in Templemoor has a long future as the primary Garda training college, but I wish to ask the question, why only Templemoor? The demands of modern policing are more complex than ever, while at the same time Ireland's population is growing rapidly and becoming more diverse, the nature of society, of crime, urbanisation, the communities we live, have all changed utterly. The policing needs of the country have transformed just as our country has transformed. Taoiseach, I believe the time has come for a second training college, one that should be based in Dublin and which leverages the potential for greater linkages with the state's recently expanded network of technological universities and I believe there is a compelling case for that second training college to be located in Blanchardstown. Blanchardstown represents one of the fastest growing population centres in the state of which I am proud, diverse and dynamic communities, one of the country's largest retail centres, a university, the national sports campus, an expanding technological and economic corridor and in Blanchardstown we have a campus of TU Dublin, an ideal site, an ideal synergy and it would offer major recruitment advantages across Leinster and align Garda education with the future needs of policing, digital capability, emerging tech rooted in community engagement and modern urban policing skills. But as I have raised with you previously many times in this chamber, Blanchardstown and Dublin West faces significant policing pressures. The K district is one of the busiest policing districts in the country. Blanchardstown is comparable in size and scale to a regional city yet there is just one Garda station serving more than a hundred thousand people compared to three stations in Limerick city and since 2012 over 8,300 homes have been built in Dublin 15. Entirely new communities have been developed but no new Garda station has opened. So locating a new Garda college in Blanchardstown would send a signal that the policing challenges in Dublin and in particular the growing communities around the M50 belt are being taken seriously. Taoiseach if we are serious about delivering the Garda numbers our communities need by 2030. We must now equally be serious about where and when and how we train them. Dublin 15 Taoiseach to respond now deputy please. First of all I thank the deputy for raising this and I think we should say that it's the government and Minister O'Callaghan's first priority is to get more Garda onto our streets and that is beginning well not beginning it is manifesting itself particularly in our larger cities. There's been a very good positive feedback to the numbers coming out of Temple Moor and there has been greater visibility particularly last winter but we need to spread that out across the country and by the end of this year we should have the highest number of sworn Garda in the history of the state. So we have made commitments to continue to support and expand the capacity of the Garda training college in Temple Moor as part of the program for government. We've also committed to considering the establishment of a second Garda training college. We've also said we would consider allowing Garda trainees to undergo part of their training course in regional based universities or technological universities. In other words using existing resources and capacities particularly perhaps in specialist modules or whatever in certain areas. A Garda training review group was established to identify delivery options to increase the scale and capacity of high quality education training and continuing professional development in Angordish economy. That will report to Minister Callaghan by the summer. Clearly given the month of May summer hasn't arrived yet but the group will consider specifically the case for a second training college and the role that the tertiary system could play in the delivery of Garda training. Now it doesn't all have to be in Dublin either just make that point and I know you were fondness for Blanchardstown and you referenced TUI well I was responsible for getting that campus built in Blanchardstown in double quick time at the time and there was a particular story behind it with the late Brian Lennon and where I was also in an earlier later life as Minister for Health very involved in expanding the road of the hospital in Blanchardstown. But I'm already hearing around the country other advocacy for any potential additionality to the Garda training centres and we have to in fairness be fair to everybody but I do think the overall point however Templemore will always be the core training college just to keep any there's no temporary deputies yet in the order but I mean just to keep things straight on that front because it has given great service and the town of Templemore and the people of Templemore have given great support down through the years to the Garda training college but additionality may be required even though we're breaking record numbers at the moment and there's a very high volume going through Templemore. I think there's 200 more going in again and so that that's good news. The overall workforce now has gone from 15,980 so say 16,000 to about 18,500 and that's between in the last 10 years. COVID did interrupt it in terms of what happened to the college. We were committed to about 5,000 recruiting 5,000 Garda over the lifetime of the government and so far it's going very positively. Thank you Taoiseach and I was very careful to state that Templemore should be retained as the primary Garda college but a second located in Dublin would be regionally advantageous for recruitment. It would certainly broaden appeal. Progress is being made in capacity and I know that the minister has spoken about increasing capacity at Templemore to 250. We need more investment in our roads policing and community policing and community safety strategies. We're better than the fastest growing most diverse population in the country and it's not just about numbers it's about the type of policing challenges that we now face. Digital capability, cyber crime, we're better to train than a modern dynamic university. At TU Dublin Banchestown we have the space, we have the sports and exercise facilities, we have land zone for educational purposes. For a pilot program Taoiseach the infrastructure already exists so we are a microcosm of modern urban Ireland and I think we'd be a great location for a second training college. Thank you directly for your advocacy in respect of Banchestown and TU Dublin. Could I say that I've identified a group that's been established, I think it's former Secretary General Jim Breslin chairs that group with senior officials representing the Department of Justice on Gaelic, Department of Higher Education, the Office of Public Works and the Higher Education Authority. First met in January and are continuing their work with a schedule of meetings including engagement with CEPAL which is the European Union Police Service training agency on international best practice. It will report as I said by the summer. Overall funding has now increased by 500 million over the last five years to unguarded economy. Total funding now is about 2.74 billion and the recruitment is gathering momentum. Just under 800 new recruits entered Temple Moor in 2025 and groups of over 200 trainees are now entering Temple Moor regularly and that's very positive news. 201 entered on the fourth of May and that concludes other members questions. Thank you.