Station Placement

Canyon86

Hi all,

I m looking for some feedback from newly attested recruits and present gardai

I am aware you can be placed anywhere across the country following temple more

But may I ask Are people being accomodated some bit near to home ? Are there many horror stories ?

I understand you have little say but just looking for some feedback from those who have been through it

Many thanks

Collielover

Some were delighted some not so much - appeals can be put int and applications for swaps but these are never guaranteed to be approved.

To be fair HRM do the best they possibly can the bad placings are a minority or so it seems for the recent allocation anyway but it's impossible to know if future intakes will be better or worse off - the allocations go to stations in need of members and that are able to train in more staff as in some stations can only have so many new probationers still learning for obvious enough reasons.

People married with kids can tend to do ok but again if the nearest station that needs and can take trainees is 60/90/120mins away from you well then thats the best you can hope for.

Hope this answered your question!

Canyon86

Collielover wrote: »

Some were delighted some not so much - appeals can be put int and applications for swaps but these are never guaranteed to be approved.

To be fair HRM do the best they possibly can the bad placings are a minority or so it seems for the recent allocation anyway but it's impossible to know if future intakes will be better or worse off - the allocations go to stations in need of members and that are able to train in more staff as in some stations can only have so many new probationers still learning for obvious enough reasons.

People married with kids can tend to do ok but again if the nearest station that needs and can take trainees is 60/90/120mins away from you well then thats the best you can hope for.

Hope this answered your question!

Thanks a million for your reply. Very informative!

Boult

This is a big worry for me i want to get stationed close to home.

AudiKid

My biggest worry is getting stationed in some backwards town in the middle of Ireland.

Give me one of the cities and I'll be happy!

Is it true at the end of your training that you can volunteer for stations in order of preference?

Collielover

AudiKid wrote: »

My biggest worry is getting stationed in some backwards town in the middle of Ireland.

Give me one of the cities and I'll be happy!

Is it true at the end of your training that you can volunteer for stations in order of preference?

Roughly 2 weeks before you are attested after 30( give or take) weeks in the college you find out what station you have been allocated.

You can put in a welfare request if you have extenuating circumstances ie married + kids + mortgage. simply being in a long term relationship/ engaged / married / mortgage may not be enough.

It is looked at on a case by case basis and yes people from the west have been stationed in and around Dublin.

You sign a contract that you agree you may be stationed anywhere in the country and as I said some people don't end up happy.

These are also 'training' stations for your phase 2 training which also lasts 8 months - and HRM hold the right to move you elsewhere if there is a demand/need at the end of those 8 months. Or you will be there until the end of the degree & maybe longer or until you put in a transfer request (which depending on where you want to transfer that wait in itself could be a few years although the influx of new gardai should start moving the transfer lists again).

Anyway to put it simply if you are not married and free and single you may end up anywhere - but with the number of stations in and around Dublin usually those from Dublin and the surrounding counties end up pretty happy out.


[PS Transfers can only be put in for at the end of your probation as far as i am aware so as phase 2 is 8 months and phase 3 is also 8 months that means you have to wait 16 months til the end of your probation to put in a transfer you can't on day 1 of phase 2 apply!]

Canyon86

Collielover wrote: »

Roughly 2 weeks before you are attested after 30( give or take) weeks in the college you find out what station you have been allocated.

You can put in a welfare request if you have extenuating circumstances ie married + kids + mortgage. simply being in a long term relationship/ engaged / married / mortgage may not be enough.

It is looked at on a case by case basis and yes people from the west have been stationed in and around Dublin.

You sign a contract that you agree you may be stationed anywhere in the country and as I said some people don't end up happy.

These are also 'training' stations for your phase 2 training which also lasts 8 months - and HRM hold the right to move you elsewhere if there is a demand/need at the end of those 8 months. Or you will be there until the end of the degree & maybe longer or until you put in a transfer request (which depending on where you want to transfer that wait in itself could be a few years although the influx of new gardai should start moving the transfer lists again).

Anyway to put it simply if you are not married and free and single you may end up anywhere - but with the number of stations in and around Dublin usually those from Dublin and the surrounding counties end up pretty happy out.


[PS Transfers can only be put in for at the end of your probation as far as i am aware so as phase 2 is 8 months and phase 3 is also 8 months that means you have to wait 16 months til the end of your probation to put in a transfer you can't on day 1 of phase 2 apply!]

Found some links about placements that may be useful to see where people get sent

http://www.kildarenow.com/news/94-out-of-99-new-garda-recruits-assigned-to-leinster/85343

http://jrnl.ie/2205254

AudiKid

Collielover wrote: »

Roughly 2 weeks before you are attested after 30( give or take) weeks in the college you find out what station you have been allocated.

You can put in a welfare request if you have extenuating circumstances ie married + kids + mortgage. simply being in a long term relationship/ engaged / married / mortgage may not be enough.

It is looked at on a case by case basis and yes people from the west have been stationed in and around Dublin.

You sign a contract that you agree you may be stationed anywhere in the country and as I said some people don't end up happy.

These are also 'training' stations for your phase 2 training which also lasts 8 months - and HRM hold the right to move you elsewhere if there is a demand/need at the end of those 8 months. Or you will be there until the end of the degree & maybe longer or until you put in a transfer request (which depending on where you want to transfer that wait in itself could be a few years although the influx of new gardai should start moving the transfer lists again).

Anyway to put it simply if you are not married and free and single you may end up anywhere - but with the number of stations in and around Dublin usually those from Dublin and the surrounding counties end up pretty happy out.


[PS Transfers can only be put in for at the end of your probation as far as i am aware so as phase 2 is 8 months and phase 3 is also 8 months that means you have to wait 16 months til the end of your probation to put in a transfer you can't on day 1 of phase 2 apply!]

Thanks for all the information! Great post!

Boult

How do you get this welfare request form? Do many people fill it in i wonder or do alot not actually care where they are stationed.

Collielover

Boult wrote: »

How do you get this welfare request form? Do many people fill it in i wonder or do alot not actually care where they are stationed.

There's a welfare office in the college, they deal with the requests, you won't be able to submit anything prior to being in the college.

Not many do it because you are told from the start only try it if you have serious commitments as i mentioned before.

Boult

Collielover wrote: »

There's a welfare office in the college, they deal with the requests, you won't be able to submit anything prior to being in the college.

Not many do it because you are told from the start only try it if you have serious commitments as i mentioned before.

Thanks for the info i'm hoping to get stationed fairly close to home.

D Trent

This Welfare office within Garda college, do they also determine whether a person can defer a college place ??

Collielover

D Trent wrote: »

This Welfare office within Garda college, do they also determine whether a person can defer a college place ??

That I don't know but my guess would be that is with HRM, as the college just receive the list of people due to arrive down.
Typically the way it worked for the 2013 campaign with me was HRM notify you when your file is ready, ie all stages passed and vetting back all clear they will contact you then asking if you were offered a place to start on X date would you be in a position to accept and how much notice do you need in your current job.

Then depending on those ready on the panel the top 150 people from the OOM whose files are ready (plenty have been left waiting for vetting missing several intakes in the meantime) get offered, when people refuse/defer they offer additional offers to the next people ready on the OOM list.

The OOM they issue offers is the one after your interview that is the final OOM you will receive.

Again this is my knowledge based on 2013 campaign I am unsure if there is much difference to the latest campaign if any.

docst

A welfare case is having kids. Being married, mortgages etc won't be regarded as one. Probationers aren't to be stationed within 50 miles of their home address unless your in a city. The dubs will get sent to Dublin. There are 100's of transfers waiting years to get out of Dublin as well.

Canyon86

Are recruits sent near enough for the phases does anybody know ?

Collielover

Canyon86 wrote: »

Are recruits sent near enough for the phases does anybody know ?

What do you mean?

Lockstep

Is it easy enough to get stationed in Dublin so? When I was at stage 2, we were told that's where most of the vacancies are.

Canyon86

Collielover wrote: »

What do you mean?

Sorry collie

Your phase 2 training station would that be ages away from your home place like could somebody from waterford be sent to donegal etc ?

Collielover

Canyon86 wrote: »

Sorry collie

Your phase 2 training station would that be ages away from your home place like could somebody from waterford be sent to donegal etc ?

Ah ok, nothing that extreme as far as I know though there have been some sent 2.5-3hours away from home alright...

unattendedbag

Special circumstances can also prevail. A good few years ago a load of probationers were all sent to Shannon to mind the planes and some to belmullet for the shell to sea protests. More recently a good few were transferred to Dundalk as a quick fix to ease the shortage of manpower.

However generally it would be easy to get back to Dublin from these places as transfers work a bit like supply and demand. Lots of people looking to transfer out of Dublin and too many people trying to get to Connaught and Munster.

redout

If you are from Dublin i'd wager the house on getting sent back there. One thing I would say about the welfare cases is to think it thru carefully because when stations are allocated and people then put in appeals because they are not happy you can actually end up worse off. i.e. say you were from Cork and got allocated Limerick - on appeal you could end up with Cavan for instance. That said, you can also get a better deal. Luck of the draw. If you end up worse off it is usually because someone has a stronger case than you.

Canyon86

How closely is your previous employment location(s) looked at when it comes to station Placement ?

Does it have a bearing ?

Eg if your from waterford but have been working in Dublin for two years prior to entering templemore?

Would be interested to hear people's views on this especially those who have been through templemore ☺