Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status and future plans for a closed OPW building (details supplied). [29475/18]

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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The former Garda station in Quin, Co. Clare was among the 139 Garda stations identified for closure by An Garda Síochána in 2012 and 2013. Many of these properties reverted to the OPW to identify an alternative State use or manage their disposal.

In 2016, An Garda Síochána/Policing Authority undertook a review of the closed Garda Stations under the Programme for a Partnership Government.  In late 2017, the preliminary review initially identified six stations for re-opening.  These were:

- Ballinspittle, Co Cork

- Bawnboy, Co Cavan

- Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow

- Donard, Co Wicklow

- Stepaside, Co Dublin

- Rush, Co Dublin

The Programme for a Partnership Government also requested the Policing Authority to oversee a review of ‘both the boundaries of Garda districts and the dispersal of Garda stations in rural areas and in developing urban and suburban areas with a view to ensuring both an efficient and optimum geographical distribution of stations’.  In this regard, the Acting Garda Commissioner requested the OPW not to dispose of any additional former Garda stations, pending the outcome of the review.  

Once the review is completed, the future of the former station at Quin will be determined.