Change comes in many forms but it is invariably brought about by two main factors. The first occurs when there is a desire for it, whether by a group or an individual. The second type is born of necessity, when circumstances dictate that there is no other option. Occasionally both impetuses arrive in the same moment.

Irish Revenue’s Customs and Excise Training Team found themselves at just such a juncture, as the world emerged from the pervasive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns had radically overhauled how training was delivered in the face of social distancing, but those restrictions meant courses requiring physical participation were mothballed for the duration of the emergency. With the world once again opening up, a unique opportunity presented itself to revisit, and enhance, the methods that had been used before.

Irish Customs had always provided training in search of vehicle but, despite the best efforts of those involved, challenges like finding a permanent venue and the appropriate equipment had frequently hampered its progress. With the reset offered by the COVID-19 shutdowns, manager Maria Morrissey and trainer Paul Codd set about rethinking what that course might look like, given the passage of time and advances in technology and vehicles. There were practical considerations too. Britain’s exit from the European Union – or Brexit – meant that traffic from there is now considered as coming from a third country. In a legal sense, vehicles are consequently open to more official scrutiny given that they are no longer arriving from the EU. Wedded to this was the fact that a huge cohort of new Customs Officers, hired to contend with the operational implications of Brexit, had seen their training disrupted by COVID-19.

Gold standard

The foundation, as seen by Morrissey and Codd, would be built upon meeting the highest standards of EU and WCO training, while delivering to a precise, ambitious set of business needs. With discussions heightening around the development of their own purpose-built practical training school, the course could serve as an example of what Customs training might look like in such a scenario. As Codd puts it: “We (Customs) should be the best at searching vehicles, given the nature of our work, and Ireland should be aspiring to the highest levels of international best practice.” For Morrissey, it was about “getting it right”, and creating a course that would elevate standards of Customs training. With the broad outlines forming, the pair drew fellow trainer Liam Williams into the fold to assist them in making their aspirational vision a reality. Having previously worked with Codd in Customs enforcement and then as fellow dog handlers, the pair shared a strong work history and friendship. ‘It was a no-brainer for me’, Williams recounts. ‘I absolutely love motorbikes, cars, and tinkering around with engines. It sounded like a really interesting course and something that I’d really enjoy.’

There were other factors too, as Morrisey explains: “Having cleared the Brexit hurdle, we could now turn our attention to other things… Our ambition was to reach an EU/global standard, which wasn’t going to be easy but why aim lower? Why not us and why not Ireland? It obviously had to be for our staff, but we have a contribution to make internationally.”

Immersing themselves in the world of gaskets, manifolds and endoscopes, the trio put months of research into the equipment and facilities they might require to create an innovative, shared learning experience that would meet the extent of their learning and development ambitions. The next obvious move in this pursuit was to seek out the gold standard of expertise in the practical end of searching a vehicle.

With a vast land border, Finland is hugely regarded for the quality of their European Union Common Learning Event Programme (EU CLEP) training course in searching vehicles. Like Ireland, COVID-19 restrictions meant pausing the Finns in-person instruction. By 2022 however, they had begun gearing up for a restart, so Morrissey reached out to a contact of hers in Finnish Customs to explore the possibility of sending someone to attend that organisation’s train the trainer course on searching a vehicle. In a tip of the cap to the importance of cultivating relationships across jurisdictions, her contact kindly offered two spaces on the highly sought after programme.

In August of 2023, Codd and Williams spent a week in Finland’s European Centre of Excellence, under their Customs Administration fellowship. Given their aforementioned border, local officers deal with search of vehicle on a continuous and extensive basis, in comparison to an island nation such as Ireland. This familiarity has served to make their proficiency and skill something of the benchmark of vehicle search and the two Irish officers spent the week absorbing all that they could about how to systematically take vehicles apart, and – crucially – how to reassemble them afterwards. As Williams discerningly notes: “It’s all very well having enough reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle and the confidence to take it apart, but you also need the confidence that you have reassembled it correctly.”

But it wasn’t just the technical training that made the trip so successful. Surrounded by colleagues of other Customs agencies from around Europe, the participants traded knowledge and experiences, as everyone brought something to the table. The trip also served another significant purpose, as Morrissey puts it: “The Finland trip had a snowball effect and the enthusiasm it instilled created its own momentum. It made everything about the project feel real.”

On their return, the trio, joined by newly minted manager Iain Timmons, began integrating all the ingredients of the project. Morrissey and Timmons negotiated organisational matters, with the former taking the lead on strategy and how the course would fit Revenue’s vision, while the latter isolated what the training would look like from a Customs perspective. With overall oversight of the project, Head of Learning and Development for Revenue in Ireland, Kate O’Gorman was instrumental in assuring it moved toward reality: “The team’s capacity to think outside the box was one of the most important things for me. We don’t have a practical training school ready-made, and while that’s still very much in our plans, it didn’t deter the team from pressing ahead… and I was delighted to help move that forward, along with the help of our colleagues in Procurement.”

The research continued in earnest and, armed with their newfound knowledge, Codd and Williams also took Electrically Instructed Person (EIP) training in electric and hybrid vehicles with Hyundai. They even spent time in a garage owned by Codd’s brother-in-law, honing their skills by dismantling and reassembling an array of vehicles. A search for tools followed, as everyone involved traversed the country and the internet amassing exactly what they would require, to ensure that the course lived up to its increasingly ambitious standard. It was all falling into place, but for one factor: a venue.

In the past, Irish Customs had always conducted their search of vehicle course on a Revenue-owned facility, but – like all aspects of this venture – innovation was key to the next step, as Codd and Williams learned of Finland Customs Administration’s openness to public/private cooperation on some projects. With management’s blessing to pursue this avenue, Codd made contact with a range of companies in the automotive industry who might be willing to collaborate. Some companies balked at the idea, others didn’t quite fit the bill, but one candidate quickly elevated themselves by ticking all of the boxes in terms of not just logistics and facilities, but other intangibles such as enthusiasm and flexibility.

As owners of 30% of the national car market, Volkswagen Group Ireland are a formidable presence in Ireland, but their relationship with the country is not just a commercial one. Head of Group Training for VW Group Ireland, John Cunningham is proud of the company’s connections with various government bodies, via training and official fleets. But more than that, he articulates: “For us, it made perfect sense to work with Revenue because we believe there is a civic obligation that when one of the government bodies reaches out to you, you are going to try to support them.” With approval reaching all the way to Board level, VW opened their state-of-the-art training centre to Revenue. At almost 2,500 square meters, the premises contains five classrooms, and 12 workshop training suites, with upwards of a dozen vehicles available for training. They even provided Codd and Williams with a day’s training by one of their master technicians, familiarising them further with brands such as Skoda, Seat, Audi, Cupra and others. Cunningham says that a fundamental tenet of VW is their wish to upskill government bodies in the latest technologies and innovations. As an illustration of the bonhomie of the relationship, Morrissey quipped: “I think he said yes to me on everything I asked!”

The course itself extended this theme of evolution. Candidates must complete the e-learning Search of Vehicle course provided by the Customs & Tax EU Learning Portal beforehand to be considered for the training. The first day then focusses upon theory and – given the potential for injury – leans heavily into health and safety procedures. While inspired by the Finns, Codd explains that they added their own idiomatic wrinkles. “Finnish Customs have a tiered approach, where they do a visual search, followed by a basic search and then the actual search, depending on the level of suspicion. We supplemented this with a Customs profiling piece where we tie together justification, reasonable suspicion and asking questions like does the vehicle fit the trip? Do the contents match the person? Does the journey make sense? That kind of information.”

The theory is followed by two intensive days of practical demonstrations about stripping down and reassembling vehicles so that they are exactly as they were beforehand. The intricacies can be dazzling as both trainers point out that not only do all vehicles contain different specs that provide a dizzying array of hiding places, but there are even differences in the same model, depending upon their year of release. The training is designed to be as immersive as possible and Morrissey remarks: “I just think that it works so well as an example of blended learning, and it was important to incorporate that EU learning piece. We are looking to raise our standards in every sense but ultimately, for me, it’s about confidence building.”

Participants were provided challenges, such as being given a vehicle with contraband concealed in it, where they had to set about finding it. All the while, they are coaxed, coached and encouraged by Codd and Williams who ply them with knowledge to augment these practical skills. What constitutes a legally sound level of reasonable suspicion? How stolen cars are frequently used to smuggle drugs. How hydraulic hides operate and how to uncover and reverse engineer them. That ‘written-off’ cars are repurposed, or even how Satnav systems can provide vital intelligence. Automotive innovations are quietly and thoroughly explained as both trainers equip participants with the knowledge of what to look for and the skills to find it.

Training candidates were drawn from Ireland’s three main ports in Dublin, Cork and Rosslare, and were universal in their praise for the project. Simon Garvey, based in Dublin Port, pointed to the inclusivity of the training: “Nobody was made to feel uncomfortable, irrespective of their experience, and it was never tedious… It just provides you with the tools to do a control in a safe, thorough and justifiable manner.”

The inclusivity was very much by design, and all of those involved in bringing the project to fruition were adamant that the intention would never be to catch trainees out; only to instruct and instil belief. Officer Elaine Roche, based in Rosslare, echoed the sentiment, saying: “Being a female, I wouldn’t be car savvy and I’ll be honest, before I went in, I didn’t want to do it for that reason. But the only negative feedback I have is that the training didn’t last longer because I came away feeling empowered.”

Aside from the synergy it promoted, as is virtually always the case with the very best in training, it comes back to the trainers themselves and to a person, the participants were effusive in their assessment. Officer Nicola Farrell, based in Dublin Port: “I’m more of a practical learner so it really appealed to me. You can tell the trainers have done their homework but their interest in their subject appealed to everyone on the training. It meant that people gelled really quickly and helped each other along.”

According to Cork Officer Jimmy Duggan: ‘It was an absolutely superb course and everyone who did it says the same thing. It’s a perfect example of showing the theory and then putting it into practice. It makes Customs Officers more adept and effective at their jobs and more aware of the environment and the requirements associated with our work.’

As for what happens when the rubber meets the road, both metaphorically and literally, Rosslare Officer Oliver Devlin has no doubt as to the potential ramifications. “Right from the online introduction you got the feeling you were onto something special with this course. Beforehand, of course you knew that there were concealment places in cars, but the training showed you places that you wouldn’t dream of.”

Nor was it purely the participants who gained knowledge and experience. Irish Customs now has a template for learning, or as Timmons puts it: “It sets a standard for what we should always strive to achieve.’  The formula as envisaged by Morrissey and Codd can be applied to any course, even in ways that weren’t initially conceivable. The methodical way a car is disassembled, with each removed piece placed closest to where it was taken from, in an ordinal fashion, can easily be applied to search of property, baggage or other conveyances. Similarly, adherence to best practices and highest global standards can form the bedrock of any training going forward.

There is also the public/private collaboration and interagency dimension, which shows how successful and mutually beneficial such arrangements can be when approached with honesty, purpose and professionalism.

As O’Gorman notes with pride: ‘It is a true example of innovative holistic thinking from a learning and development perspective. That is something very exciting because I think it will spawn more opportunities to step back from projects and think: how would we approach this differently? We don’t have a perfect solution ready-made, so how do we craft something and build out the idea, shape the design, find the environment and keep pushing forward? That spark around the professional approach is so important because it means that if you have a methodology on a job and in the training, it paves a pathway for development. I think this training course can be instrumental in joining up that pathway for Customs officers.’

Whatever comes next, the bar has certainly been set higher.

More information
wco@revenue.ie