Ahern opens new home for government bodies

The Navan home to a range of criminal justice bodies, including the Probation Service at Athlumney House, Johnstown, was officially opened on Friday of last week (31st October) by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern. The building is also home to the decentralised Garda Civilian Human Resources Directorate and the Coroner"s Service Implementation Team, which is headed by Sandra Smith. The new Garda Civilian HR Directorate, which is now operating from Navan, was established in October 2006 to provide human resource support to all the civilian staff in An Garda Síochána. The management and staff of the HR directorate, under Alan Mulligan"s leadership, deserved credit for the huge effort they have made in developing their HR knowledge and skills over a very short space of time, he said. The directorate manages all aspects of human resource management and development. This includes recruitment, training, performance management, pay and general HR administrative functions for over 2,500 clerical, administrative, professional, technical and industrial civilian staff working within An Garda Síochána. The directorate is also playing a key role in driving forward an important initiative for the government, which is the Civilianisation Programme within the Gardaí, said Mr Ahern. He welcomed Chief Superintendent Padraic Rhattigan and Garda colleagues from County Meath. Mr Ahern said he was pleased that the Probation Service Director, Michael Donnellan, and his team, had settled in to this fine building. He welcomed to the opening members of the Coroners" Society including their president, Professor Denis Cusack. He voiced his appreciation and that of the Government for the work which Ireland"s coroners carried out every day with great professionalism and sensitivity. Mr Ahern said the move of the Probation Service headquarters to Navan was very much in keeping with the organisation"s ethos of bringing support services to local communities. He said An Garda Síochána was now a rapidly changing organisation in which civilians were being appointed to an ever wider range of managerial and administrative roles and specialist functions. The invaluable support being provided to the force by civilian staff has helped to kick start successful flagship initiatives such as the Garda Information Services Centre, the Central Vetting Unit and the Fixed Charge Processing Office, he said. Mr Ahern congratulated Mr Tommy Lynch and his colleagues, Corramore Construction and AEM on the fine job they had done on the building. 'From my walk around this morning, I can see that they have successfully moulded the old with the new. With the able assistance of all the officials in the Office of Public Works and their architect, Andrea Fox, the State has been able to retain all the fine architectural features of Athlumney House while at the same time delivering excellent and environmentally friendly office accommodation,' he said.