Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the long and sad saga of Clonmel Garda station. It has been raised in the House for the past 40 years and still there are no better facilities for the Garda Síochána, whom I salute, there under the direction of Superintendent William Leahy. I also pay tribute to one of their colleagues who died recently, Sergeant Martin Hopkins, who was an excellent young garda.

It is just not fair. It has been announced more times, including by previous Ministers such as Deputies Alan Kelly and Michael Lowry and many others. We know some contracts were signed and there is a public private partnership, but when are we going to see any movement towards putting the station on the new site? We had an announcement this week about funding for the site at Kickham Barracks. I welcome that but there has been nothing for the Garda station or the gardaí who work in those appalling conditions. It is time that we had the plans and the JCBs on site to get this moving because the current situation is not acceptable.

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