Garda Síochána College is the education and training college of the Garda Síochána (Irish police service). It is located at McCan Barracks, Templemore, County Tipperary in Ireland. The college has been in Templemore since 1964.

Courses offered

Two courses are available, both conferred by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council:

• Bachelor of Arts (in Police Studies): for fresh recruits. The entry requirements are mainly age, character, citizenship, education and health based, competitions for entry are advertised periodically, usually annually.

• Bachelor of Arts (in Police Management): for senior officers. The entry requirement is to be a senior manager at superintendent or officer grade. The course’s main function is to serve those members with additional skills and training. This is currently being carried out in a hotel in Nenagh, County Tipperary due to more space being needed for the training of new recruits.

Candidates with other qualifications, particularly technical, may be considered for specific positions where a technical skill set is a prerequisite. This is usually for computer, finance and fraud based branches and investigations.

Various other specialist courses are available for serving force members.

Training programme

The training programme for Recruit Gardaí remained similar to that conducted in the Phoenix Park, which provided for 18 weeks training before being allocated to a Garda Station.

After one year “on the job” each Recruit Garda returned to Templemore for a one-month “refresher course”. The training was extended to 22 weeks in the late 1970s. The subjects studied were Police Duties, Irish, and Physical Studies, consisting of Physical Training, Drill, Swimming, and First Aid.

Following a major examination of all training in the Garda Síochána a new two-year Student/Probationer Education/Training Programme was introduced for trainee Gardaí in April 1989. A major building programme saw the facilities developed and modernised to the most up to date standards in Europe and the name of the institution changed from the Garda Training Centre to the Garda College.

In 1992 the Garda College was designated by the Minister for Education as an institution which the National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA) could accredit. The following year, the two-year Student/Probationer Education/Training Programme was accredited by the NCEA with the award of a National Diploma in Police Studies. A more recent initiative saw the development of a Bachelor of Arts (Police Management) degree for Garda Officers of Superintendent rank upwards.