Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I am delighted to have an opportunity to raise this issue. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary. I am a little disappointed that the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, is not present, but I understand he is out of the country on State business.

I will outline the crux of the problem. There is a national Garda station building programme but it is a complete mystery who is involved in it, who is responsible for it and how it is funded and operated. I have been a Member of the Oireachtas for 14 years. When we were trying to develop Buncrana Garda station I succeeded in arranging a meeting between the Departments of Social and Family Affairs, the Office of Public Works, the office of the Garda Commissioner and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in an attempt to drive the project.

I raise this issue about Carndonagh Garda station because development of the Buncrana and Carndonagh Garda stations was to be advanced as a joint project. I had a meeting about Buncrana Garda station and I got all the parties around the same table. I noted at the meeting that Carndonagh Garda station could have fitted on the table at which we were seated. The assistant Garda commissioner said I was not telling the full truth. He said that Carndonagh Garda station would fit one and a half times on the table. There has been an ongoing difficulty with the development of this Garda station and I am trying to ascertain how it can be moved to permanent accommodation.

My lobbying has achieved 24-hour status for the station in Carndonagh covering the north Inishowen area. In 2008 the priority was to acquire a site at significant cost. By 2009, the site unavailable for various reasons, a situation for which I do not blame anyone. Now in 2010, opportunities for permanent accommodation have been offered to the OPW, the Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, yet a Government agency is spending €175,000 on a site that everyone knows is not appropriate for what some regard as a small job, namely, the provision of a new portakabin structure at the rear of the station to accommodate male and female locker facilities, ablution facilities, including accessibility features, a kitchen area and a communications room. The resulting modification of the existing station will include enhancements to the public office in the form of ramps and alterations to the public counter to provide greater accessibility, while the former communications room will be converted for use as a sergeant's office and administration office and will provide for additional ablution facilities. The former sergeant's office will then be available for use by local management at their discretion.

This is a waste of €175,000 at a time when our economics are such that we should not be wasting money. I am aware of alternatives that are not that much more expensive and which would yield a permanent solution. In the words of one senior local garda, it would fulfil the future needs of north Inishowen policing. I have been asking landowners and brownfield site owners to offer alternative sites to the Office of Public Works. My greatest difficulty is that I have been providing this type of information to the OPW, the Garda authorities, the office of the Garda Commissioner and the local gardaí, yet I am unable to find out why a decision was made to go with completely the wrong choice.

The residents of Carndonagh and north Inishowen are up in arms, rightly so. They are very distraught. They are afraid that this small job will result in the major job being deferred for more than a decade. I do not believe this is the case and the Garda Commissioner has given me his assurance that he wants the best facilities for his people. I also have correspondence from the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, on this matter. I suggest we give the portakabin to someone else or some deserving cause and get the proper solution now in Carndonagh. I am sure the OPW would be inundated with suggestions. It seems that everyone has prioritised this scheme, it is included in the 2010 building programme and yet the real solution has neither been looked at nor sought. We have something that no one - local gardaí or local residents - is happy with. The gardaí have had to move out of the town. There has been a threat of direct action against drug dealers in the Inishowen peninsula. While I do not wish to hype the situation because I believe our gardaí to be well organised and I have received a personal guarantee from the Garda Commissioner that the area will be patrolled, none the less people are scared unnecessarily. There are local solutions that could have been achieved and for which I fought but which have not been delivered. I will continue to fight and this is the reason I have raised this matter to find out who is responsible for the building programme and why it is such a mystery.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Deputy Martin Mansergh, is away on Government business. I am aware from the record of the House that Senator Keaveney has been very active with regard to Carndonagh Garda station.

The programme of replacement and refurbishment of Garda accommodation is based on agreed priorities established by the Garda Síochána. This programme is brought forward in close co-operation with the Office of Public Works which has responsibility for the provision and maintenance of Garda accommodation. I am advised by the Garda authorities that a contract is in place for the refurbishment and extension of the accommodation at Carndonagh Garda station and work commenced on site last Tuesday, 2 March 2010. This work will include the provision of additional accommodation to provide male and female locker facilities, ablution facilities, a kitchen area, communications room, enhancements to the public office and the provision of additional office space. The refurbishment and extension works are expected to last a number of months during which time gardaí normally based at Carndonagh will operate from Clonmany and Malin stations. In addition, a Garda public office will operate in Carndonagh during weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the duration of refurbishment works to facilitate public inquiries.

Garda management monitor policing arrangements and operational strategies in place, in conjunction with crime trends and policing needs of the communities, to ensure optimum use is made of Garda resources and the best possible Garda service is provided to the public. In this regard, local Garda management has put in place arrangements to ensure there is no diminution in the policing service provided to the north Inishowen area in the period concerned.

There has been a sustained programme of investment in Garda accommodation in recent years which has seen the delivery of a number of significant projects, including the new Garda district headquarters at Buncrana which has recently been completed. A number of other works have either been completed, are in progress, or are about to commence within the division, including Newtowncunningham, Raphoe, Letterkenny, Clonmany and Ballybofey.

I am aware the Senator has a strong interest in the issue of providing a new Garda station in Carndonagh. In that context, I understand the Office of Public Works will continue to examine all available options for a new Garda station in Carndonagh in the context of securing best value for public money in the light of available resources and in the context of the identified accommodation priorities of the Garda Síochána. I will direct the Senator's frustrations to the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh.

Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the significant investment which has been and continues to be made in Garda stations and do not wish to take away from that made in the area in question. I am not alone, however, in having a strong interest in seeing a new station provided. Will the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, the Garda Commissioner and all those with an interest in providing this new station undertake to ensure it begins this year and not in many years' time? The main concern of residents is whether this small job will yield a solution that removes this project from the priority list for the foreseeable future. It is not securing best value for public money in the light of available resources.