In-service training for members of An Garda Síochána is to be moved away from the Garda training college in Templemore, Co Tipperary, to make space for an expected increase in the level of new recruits.
In a statement, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said training and development programmes for members of the force would from next month be run from the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, for the next four years.
"This move is one of a number of practical arrangements necessary to facilitate the increased intake of Garda recruits," Mr McDowell said.
This location was selected following an evaluation of responses to an advert placed by the Office of Public Works, the department said.
The statement also said 275 recruits have started training for some of the 2,000 newly created Garda posts. They are the first class from a group of 10,500 applications to the force attracted in part by a rise in the upper age limit from 28 to 35 years.
Under a plan to bring the Garda up to 14,000 officers, there will be four classes each year of 275 recruits over the next three years.