Gardaí unlikely to get pursuit training in significant numbers until 2028, TDs told

It could be 2028 before significant numbers of An Garda Síochána complete pursuit training, an Oireachtas committee heard on Tuesday.The general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors (AGSI), Ronan Clogher told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that it is “highly unlikely” that any frontline members would receiving the training before the end of the year.AGSI, which represents the mid-level management of the Garda, and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) appeared before the committee on Tuesday, prior to an appearance by Garda management.Both unions told the committee they had not been consulted with by management regarding any training for their members.READ MOREGarda driving instructors have been conducting specialist pursuit training with British police at Devon and Cornwall Police during the summer, The Irish Times has previously reported.It emerged that the Garda turned to the British police to plug the skills gap in the force after five teenagers in a BMW were killed in a wrong-way crash on the M9 in Co Kildare in early August as they tried to evade gardaí. The gardaí following the car did not pursue the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way along the motorway.The crash on the M9 brought the issue to public attention, but the Garda unions and management had been lobbying for increased pursuit training and resources prior to the incident. Clogher told the committee the Garda instructors in the UK may complete their training before the end of the year. However, the small number of instructors meant it was unlikely that “big numbers” would be trained in 2027.He said it would be 2028 or 2029 before significant numbers of the force would be trained to pursue cars.Clogher said it is unsure what would be made available to gardaí in the promised training, “because we haven’t been informed of what this training is, or what training is coming in towards the end of the year or early next year”.“Some forces in the UK do not chase on motorways. They will not do it. They will abandon [chases] and they will pull [out].”Clogher also said official Garda policy on pursuits “gives absolutely no direction on how to conduct a pursuit”. The policy said gardaí should only pursue vehicles “where safe to do so” but pursuits, by their very nature, were unsafe he said.Labour Party TD Alan Kelly said it was “laughable” that Garda management had put in place a pursuit policy despite no gardaí having been trained to conduct pursuits.The committee also heard calls from Ronan Slevin, general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), for the posting of videos showing wrong-way driving to made illegal.The GRA called for increased protections and indemnity for members of the force and suggested that gardaí should have a separate driving license for their work from their own private license.In Clogher’s opening statement, he said AGSI is of the view that “the greatest obstacle to tackling the problems surrounding Garda pursuits is a cultural issue surrounding risk aversion” within the force.“The failure to accept any level of corporate risk surrounding this issue will ultimately create a further digression in the organisation’s ability to effectively tackle this issue.”