IN a last minute change of plan, the new recruits to Templemore Garda Training Centre were welcomed yesterday, not by the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, but by their local TD, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry.
Mrs Owen had been called to Belfast, so Mr Lowry rushed from the announcement of the additional expenditure on rail transport to welcome the increase in he numbers of trainee gardai.
A total of 163 began their training yesterday, made up of a normal intake of 88 and an additional intake of 75, the first of an extra 400 gardai being recruited between now and October 1997 as part of the Government's crime package.
Some 100 of the new students will be accommodated in the surrounding area, as there are not enough rooms in the training centre. The number of lecturers will increase, the academic co-ordinator, Chief Supt Eamonn Keating said. These include both Garda and civilian lecturers from institutions such as the IPA and the IMI, and teachers of subjects such as Irish, he said.
He did not know exactly how many of the new recruits were women, but some of the classes were split fairly evenly, he said. Women's interest in joining the Garda Siochana was growing, every year.
The recruits were taken from the top of a list prepared by the Civil Service Appointments' Commission, based on examination results.