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Specialist gardai being trained on pursuit skills in UK and will be teaching courses in Ireland before end of year

The officers will soon return to Ireland and start teaching front line gardai pursuit skills and techniques for the first time

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Michael O'Toole Crime and Defence Editor

05:00, 19 Aug 2026

[The Garda driver instructors are being trained by police in south west England]

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The Garda driver instructors are being trained by police in south west England(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins/Stock image)

Specialist gardai are in Britain learning to train other members of the force how to carry out dangerous car pursuits, it has emerged.

And sources tell us those officers are likely to be training the front line gardai on pursuit skills before the end of this year.

We have learned that a small number of driver instructors based at the Garda College in Templemore in Co Tipperary are now attending a specialist pursuit course with an English police force.

It is understood the Garda driver instructors are currently being trained on pursuit by officers from the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in south-west England.

They are expected to graduate from the course in the coming weeks - and immediately start training gardai.

A source told us: "We have driver instructors currently being trained by Devon and Cornwall Police on pursuit. This will enable us to deliver pursuit training in-house."

And the source added: "The course will be completed in time to enable in-house pursuit training to begin before year end."

That will be the first time any serving members will have a pursuit qualification.

News of the course comes days after the M9 road tragedy in Co Kildare, which left five teens dead and highlighted that garda lack pursuit training.

The five teenagers - Jeremy OBrien, 18, and Alex McCarthey, 17 from Carlow; Jack Kennedy, 17, and Joey Carthy, 15 from Athy in Kildare, and Kamil Pustkowski, 17, from Limerick - lost their lives when their BMW was involved in a head-on collision on the motorway in Kildare at around 3am on Sunday.

They were driving at speed on the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on into a Hyundai car carrying four innocent members of the Kinsella family from Carlow, who were on their way to Dublin Airport.

[The five teenagers who died were in a car that had been bought five days earlier.]

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The five teenagers who died were in a car that had been bought five days earlier.

The four - a seven-year-old boy and three women - all received serious injuries in the horror crash.

Justice Minister Jim OCallaghan vowed after the tragedy that gardai would receive whatever resources they need to deal with dangerous driving - including pursuit training.

And now sources have confirmed that training is due to start before the end of December.

Although gardai are not trained in pursuits, officers regularly take part in them.

But they are often stood down at the direction of command and control bosses if it is adjudged too dangerous for the pursuit to continue - or if the targets drive on the wrong side of motorways to escape gardai.

Sources tell us pursuits are automatically called off when that happens.

There are also around 300 gardai - mostly part of the Emergency Response and Armed support units - that are trained in so-called tactical vehicle containment.

That is a technique to box in and stop high-target cars - such as those used to carry hit teams, firearms and drugs.

There are five levels of training for Garda drivers - CBD one to five.

The initials stand for Competency Based Driving and level one allows officers, after a course lasting a day, to drive an official Garda car on routine tasks.

But they always have to adhere to normal speed limits - and cannot use sirens or blue lights in an emergency.

Officers who pass a specialist two-week driving course are qualified as CBD2. They can break speed limits and drive under sirens and lights in an emergency and can carry out pursuits and other more dangerous tasks.

[The aftermath of Sunday's fatal crash on the M9.]

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The aftermath of Sunday's fatal crash on the M9.(Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

And CBD 3 is reserved for specialist units like the ERU, Special Detective Unit and Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

That is mostly tailored for officers who have to drive high-powered cars like BMWs and Audis. That course lasts an intensive three weeks.

CBD four and five are reserved for Garda driver instructors.

[A Garda BMW at force HQ in Dublin's Phoenix Park]

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A Garda BMW at force HQ in Dublin's Phoenix Park (Image: An Garda Siochana/Facebook)

As well as giving gardai the resources to take on car gangs, the government is also working on changes to legislation to give gardai involved in pursuits more protection.

Many gardai are concerned that they will face prosecution for dangerous driving if they are involved in a collision while on an emergency call - and say it is not worth the risk.

And in March, Commissioner Justin Kelly called for more protection for his officers.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors in Westport, Co Mayo, Mr Kelly said: "No matter what I do as Garda Commissioner around policies and procedures, there is a limit to what I can do with that.

"So what I really think is needed here is some legislatory changes and particularly around the thresholds for our members who are involved in pursuits that sometimes lead to accidents.

[Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly with his deputies Paul Cleary and Shawna Coxon at the AGSI conference in Mayo when he made his comments on the need for better legal protection for his officers.]

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Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly with his deputies Paul Cleary and Shawna Coxon at the AGSI conference in Mayo when he made his comments on the need for better legal protection for his officers.

"From my point of view as Garda Commissioner, it does not appear to me to be right that the same threshold is applied to a member of An Garda Siochana who goes through a red light with blue lights and sirens on. Hes responding to a call for service, a really serious call for service and he is involved in a collision and that is treated in the exact same way as if you and I off duty crashed through a red light because of bad driving.

"I certainly think something needs to be done about this.

"I have spoken to the Department of Justice about it, I have spoken to the minister around it, who are supportive in it.

"I have tasked Assistant Commissioner Catharina Gunne who is in charge of roads policing to put together a proposal that we are certainly hoping to send quite soon to the Department of Justice.

"For me, that is one of the potential resolutions in this."

And, speaking after the M9 tragedy, junior transport minister Sen Canney vowed new laws were on the way.

He said: "We've discussed this with the Commissioner in the last couple of weeks and with the Minister for Justice.

"I am prepared to bring in additional measures to protect Garda and to help Garda in pursuit of the laws.

"I am waiting for the Garda to come back with what supports they need or what legislation they need me to put in place."

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