|
|
 The final group of 126 student Gardai will graduates from the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, next Thursday and there will now be no new students in training, due to the moratorium on recruitment with effect from that date.
Presently, there is no indication when any further new students will begin training at the Templemore college and fears are being expressed that experienced Garda officers nationally will now begin leaving the Republic’s force in the coming months.
Present Gardai, employed here in the Republic, are also expected to be attracted by a new recruitment campaign, targeting their members, by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) who are launching a campaign designed to attract senior officers from existing police forces both in England and the Irish Republic, thus providing an increased policing service in the North to effectively meet current terrorist threats. Financing of this new recruitment drive, by the PSNI is being provided by an additional grant of €245m to the PSNI earlier this year, to assist the Northern Ireland force in combating serious security threats, posed by criminal dissident republicans.
This student vacuum created at the Templemore College is now expected to result in a redeployment of some experienced training officers and other staff, who will be offered operational duties elsewhere, while the immediate future of the college will be become dependant on ‘In Service ‘ and ‘Pre Retirement Courses,’ providing some work for the few remaining full-time personnel.
The Republic’s overall Garda Force now stands at 14,000 and the Government have confirmed their intention to reduce this number by up to 1,000 members by 2014.
Templemore and Thurles view this situation as a serious financial blow to both town’s local economies.
 Templemore Garda Training College here in Templemore, Co Tipperary, was once among the most elite of police academies within in Europe. Its future seemed excellent with the purchase of a further 220 acre site at Clonmore, situated close to Templemore, for the inflated price of €5.5 million, but that was five years ago.
Latter had been purchased for use as a Firearms and Tactical TrainingFacility, but was shelved following major required spending cuts under the last Fianna Fáil government.
Now Fine Gael Deputy Noel Coonan states he is confidently again advancing plans for a Garda Siochana tactical training unit in Clonmore, Templemore, with foundations for a Skills Building expected to be completed during this Summer.
The Minister of State, with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Brian Hayes recently visited the Garda College in Templemore together with Deputy Coonan, where they discussed the facility’s future with Superintendent Pat McCabe and Inspector Ray Mulderrig.
The Minister of State, also inspected the tactical training site in Dromard, Clonmore, close to Templemore Town. Any future development of the project will involves participation between An Garda Siochana and OPW officials, and the progressing of any further works at Dromard is subject to the priority attached to it, by An Garda Síochána within the overall Garda accommodation programme.
Deputy Coonan said the skills building would allow for in-house tactical manoeuvre training. Discussions are ongoing and the OPW expect to have this new Garda training centre ‘shovel ready,’ once State funding becomes available.
The centre, when completed, will train members in the use of firearms and train specialist units in tactical manoeuvres for armed incidents.
The planning consultation phase under Part 9 of the Planning Regulations was completed recently and tender documents are expected to issue shortly.
Two barmen, Mr Gary Wright and Mr Aidan Dalton, both charged with the manslaughter of Mr Graham Parish, were found not guilty on the judge’s orders this morning at Nenagh Court. Both men had denied responsibility for the death of Mr Parish in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary, on June 30th 2008.
 Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary Mr Parish, from Calder Terrace in Lomeshaye village near Nelson, East Lancashire, was celebrating his 26th birthday, when he drank a lethal mix of at least eight shots in one glass.
Mr Parish’s grieving parents David and Julie and his sister Jess were obviously upset, as they left the Circuit Court in Nenagh, where Judge Thomas Teehan directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. The family of the late Mr Parish said in a statement later, that Graham had brought much happiness to his family and he was greatly missed. They now hoped this case will highlight the dangers of alcohol and if this incident could prevent further deaths then their son’s death would not have been in vain.
Judge Teehan stated that the State had proved Mr Wright and Mr Dalton had a duty of care to Mr Parish, and had breached that duty of care and that their negligence was gross, however he found their negligence was not the cause of the victim’s death and Mr Parish had taken the decision to consume the drink of his own free will. He said there was a high level of personal responsibility in relation to drink and no jury could safely bring in a verdict of guilty on either man, directing the jury to find them not guilty.
This case is set to raise further debate over the responsibility owed to consumers by bar proprietors and those working in licenced premises, and also the responsibility by consumers, to themselves, in controlling their personal drinking behaviour.
Family and friends wept in court as the case was dramatically struck out. The accused, through their Thurles Solicitor, Mr J.J. Fitzgerald, extended their sympathies to the Parish family.
The six-day trial heard that Mr Parish had been drinking heavily in the hotel bar with his five other British contractors, who were working in a meat processing plant in the area. Both Mr Wright, a barman for 13 years, and Mr Dalton, who had worked in the pub trade for some 10 years, told investigators they believed the drink would be shared among his friends.
This case is the first of its kind under newly introduced Irish alcohol liability laws.
 Three armed robbers, suspected of being involved in a raid on a jewellers shop in central Nenagh, are being detained by Gardai.
A shot was fired during this attempted robbery at the shop of Tadgh O’Flynn Jeweller’s on Mitchell Street, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, but no one was hurt in the incident.
Two men who entered the shop, left empty handed and escaped into a nearby waiting get-away car.
A garda spokesman said Garda officers followed the suspect car and stopped it in the towns-land of Curraghduff, Upperchurch, on the Newport to Thurles road.
The three men in their 30’s were later arrested by Gardai from Thurles and Newport and are being detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Those arrested can be detained by Gardaí for up to 72 hours.
 Garda Dave McMahon, a delegate at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference, said members want a new advanced course covering high-speed chases, to be implemented at the Garda College in Templemore, Thurles, Co Tipperary. Front-line Gardaí are seeking an end to high-speed car chases, until such time as they receive training in high speed driving.
Currently there is a standard two-week driving course for Garda recruits, but a backlog now means that many officers are currently driving without basic training, acting on the authority of Chief Superintendent grade. The (GRA) states officers fear risking their lives and the lives of others during dangerous pursuits of detected criminals.
Garda Dave McMahon, Tralee, Co Kerry stated, “Our concern is we are endangering ourselves, our passengers and obviously other road users.” Garda Officers are only permitted to travel at high speed serious and emergency cases, such as armed robberies and murder, using flashing blue lights and sirens.
Officers are particularly worried about being investigated by the independent Garda Ombudsman or being hauled before the courts for traffic violations.
The GRA, which represents rank and file officers, passed a motion at their recent conference in Westport, Co Mayo, demanding an end to fast car chases until training and regulations are reviewed.
Many of the Garda cars are not fast enough to catch up with some more powerful vehicles currently on our roads and the Garda Force are reporting that old Garda cars are being lost from their fleet at a rate of one a day and are not being replaced, due to cutbacks.
|
Support Us Help keep Thurles.info online by donating below. Thank you.
Total Donated 2026: €300.00
Thank You!
Daily Thurles Mass Livestream
|
Recent Comments