The Director of Public Prosecution is to consider a file received from the Garda Ombudsman Office (GSOC) in respect of an investigation into alleged financial mismanagement at the Garda Training College in Templemore. The investigation began in 2017. An internal audit review of the college covering the years 2009 to 2016 found that it could offer no assurance that financial controls at the college were adequate. It revealed that €125,000 collected in rent on land purchased by the College was not forwarded to the Office of Public Works – the owners of the land, but was instead lodged to the Garda Restaurant Account.
The land had been purchased to develop a training course but this did not proceed and the land was subsequently rented out. It also emerged that the College had operated 50 bank accounts operated by staff with little or no financial training with the accounts used for unclear purposes. GSOC says the investigation took 6 years as Specialist staff from Revenue and the Garda Bureau of Criminal and Economic Crime assisted the investigation.
