Belarussian woman one of 48 to start with Garda Reserve

A Belarussian woman living in Limerick is one of 48 new members of the Garda Reserve who will begin service at locations throughout the State this week.

Tatsiana Lohinava (28) received a certificate marking the completion of her training from Minister for Justice Michael McDowell during a ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore on Saturday.

Ms Lohinava, who moved to Ireland from Belarus six years ago, told The Irish Timesshe had volunteered "to give something back as the Irish people supported us over Chernobyl".

A consultant with FRS Recruitment, she specialises in "bringing in people from Eastern Europe to work in construction" and believes "it's hard on gardaí if they don't understand the lingo" when dealing with migrant workers. She is being assigned to Henry Street station in Limerick and, like the other reservists, will provide four hours a week service.

At Saturday's graduation ceremony, Mr McDowell praised the "dedication, energy and enthusiasm" of the 32 men and 16 women who had completed the 3½-month training course. They range in age from their early 20s to late 50s and he said their expertise and experience would help to "deepen the relationship" between the Garda and local communities.

The group is drawn from a diverse range of employment backgrounds and includes a social worker, a mechanic, an architect, an engineer, an air traffic controller, an optician and a truck driver.

Most have been assigned to divisions in Dublin: Santry (13); Blanchardstown (11); Crumlin (seven) and DúLaoghaire (five). The others go to Galway (four), Limerick (four), Clare (two) and Sligo (two).

Among the new recruits is Noel Conroy (34) who was cheered and applauded by fellow graduates and the audience of friends and families as he walked to the podium watched by his namesake, the Garda Commissioner.

Mr Conroy, a sales manager with an engineering company in Santry, lives in Blanchardstown and joined because "it's a way of giving something back to the community". His parents, John and Mabel from Kilruane, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, said they felt "very happy" about his decision to join.

Also graduating was Margaret Dowling from Camross, Co Laois, who said she found the training "very challenging but enjoyable" and would continue working "full-time" as a nurse in Portlaoise while travelling to Dublin every weekend for duty.

The first group of 36 Garda Reserves took up its duties last December. Mr McDowell said the programme "is a real success", the "people who are joining are very, very good" and they were "getting on very well with full-time members of the force who find them to be very useful colleagues". He said a "localised" process was now in place to "speed up recruitment" for the envisaged 1,500 vacancies.