Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In December 2015, the former Minister for Justice and Equality, former Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, stated that funding for a new Garda station for Sligo would be identified in the 2017 to 2021 capital plan. In January 2017, the Office of Public Works, OPW, issued an advertisement for a site for the new station, along with Macroom and Clonmel, as part of a public-private partnership project, PPP. In mid-2017, gardaí had to leave the station in Sligo on health and safety grounds. This makes the issue worse. Also in mid-2017, remedial health and safety works were progressed in Sligo Garda station and a new station was still a priority. At the end of 2017, the Minister for Justice and Equality reaffirmed the commitment to a new Garda station for Sligo. In mid-2018, a new site was acquired by the OPW for a new Garda station at Caltragh in Sligo.

On foot of that, I put in a parliamentary question last week:

To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the provision of the new regional Garda headquarters in County Sligo as set out in the capital plan of his Department; the stage the project is at; when a planning application will be submitted; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The reply I got stated:

[S]ignificant remedial works have already taken place in the existing Garda station in Sligo, including the complete upgrade of the three floors in the building containing the public office and the provision of new locker facilities. Further upgrade works are progressing and involve the provision of new cells and custody management facilities.

The Garda Commissioner has decided that rather than construct an entirely new building, as was originally intended under the PPP model, the upgrading of the existing station to a high standard will continue. I have been assured that the upgrades will continue ... [and] ... that accommodation needs are addressed and that the station is upgraded to meet the future operational requirements of Garda members, staff and the public who use it.

I have several questions. This is a huge shock to and setback for me, and it seems that the politicians, the people and the gardaí in Sligo were misled. Why are Macroom and Clonmel deemed to be more in need of a new Garda station than Sligo, which is at the centre of the Project Ireland 2040 capital plan as a regional growth centre and the capital of the north west? What has changed since the former Minister for Justice and Equality, former Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, said that we badly needed a new Garda station in Sligo? Are gardaí being punished for taking a public stand by leaving their unsafe Garda station? What will happen to the site that was stated would be purchased in Sligo? What do we have to do to finally get a state-of-the-art facility for the brave men and women of An Garda Síochána who serve the citizens of Sligo and the north west? This is an absolute disgrace. Commitments were made and I believe those commitments should be delivered upon.

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