A group of seven TY students from three Galway second-level schools found themselves in Garda custody before making a mass court appearance recently – and not one of them put a foot wrong.

They were taking part in the first ever Transition Year Programme, organised by Loughrea Gardaí.

The seven students were selected from the three local secondary colleges – St Killian’s, St. Raphael’s and St. Brigid’s – to take part in a memorable five-day programme based in Loughrea, Galway city and Westmanstown in Dublin, learning how the wheels of justice turn.

Their first day included a presentation at Loughrea Garda station, examining the fleet, and a tour of the Garda Station – including the custody area, cells, interview suites and Public Office.

The day finished with two missing person exercises – one with Galway Civil Defence and their drones, and the second with Edelle and Jesse from SARDA (the Search & Rescue Dog Association).

The second day saw a visit to the Garda North Western Regional Headquarters in Galway, where again they got to see the custody area, take part in an ID parade, participate in an exercise with the Scenes of Crime Unit, and a real-life training exercise with the Firearms Training Unit.

Day three was role playing, taking 999 calls, dispatching patrol cars, arresting suspects and interview.  The day finished with Court Room preparation for the following day.

Day four was a live court trail where the Transition Year students played the role of suspect, defence solicitors, witnesses, garda prosecutors, court staff, with the role of Judge was portrayed by Solicitor Sheena McCarthy.

The final day of the programme was a day trip to Westmanstown in Dublin to see and talk to members of the National Operational Units including the Garda Mounted Unit, Garda Water Unit, Garda Armed Support Unit, Garda Dog Unit and a special display by the Garda Air Support Unit.

Loughrea Community Engagement Officer Sgt Leo Kiernan was delighted with the success of this inaugural exercise.

“The Loughrea Garda station TY programme was great success and provided a perfect opportunity for Garda members to interact and talk to the young members of our community,” he said.

And the TY students felt the same.

“The week went so quickly and changed my view on what being a Garda is.  I would now consider joining,” said one – while another said simply: “There was nothing on the programme that I didn’t find interesting.”

Pictured: Students line up on both sides of the window to experience an ID parade.