Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I have a general view that silos are a bad thing, unless something is being stored in them. Much to my surprise, I discovered in the review that some stations have not been opened for many years but have never been officially closed. A formal announcement was never made about the consolidation of some Garda stations. For example, I am aware of one station that has never officially been closed, but has not been open either since 1986. It has had no Garda presence since then. There are a small number of stations that are clearly not being used for policing purposes for a significant period of time. It is a complete mystery to me why previous Governments did not dispose of those buildings at a time when funding could have been realised, or at least used for other purposes. I hope to be in a position to address these issues when matters are decided early next week and announcements made.

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