Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The acting Garda Commissioner recently told the Committee of Public Accounts that the decision on Stepaside Garda station had already been made, that the OPW was pressing ahead and at an advanced stage with the project. The Minister might want to tell his colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, to send a tweet that perhaps it might never happen, certainly if the rate of progress of work on Sligo regional Garda station is anything to go by. In Sligo an existing, functional Garda station and regional headquarters responsible for policing in counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth, with 140 gardaí working in it, with an assistant commissioner, a superintendent and a chief superintendent, does not have running water, cells or shower facilities, despite the fact that towards the end of the summer many heroic gardaí jumped into the Garavogue river and averted disaster by saving four lives. Will the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross' Garda station in Stepaside join the queue behind the station in Sligo which is so dysfunctional, notwithstanding the difficulties for existing serving staff in not having appropriate working conditions, and from where prisoners have to be sent 15 miles. The Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has pointed to the standards required to be met in holding prisoners. By contrast, there are probably umpteen Garda stations within 15 miles of Stepaside with umpteen showers, drinking water and active cells. Will the Minister give a commitment that while Stepaside Garda station is at the beginning this process, since work on Sligo Garda station is surely at a much more advanced stage, we can look forward to having a new station there before we press ahead with the reopening of the Garda station in Stepaside?

See this speech in context