GARDA sources said it was a “disgrace” that members of the force had to work out of the former rat-infested Garda Station in Newcastle West, which is soon to be rebuilt to a state-of-the-art base after it was demolished.
The first sod on the new Garda District Headquarters was turned at an official ceremony attended by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, organised by the Office of Public Works (OPW), in Newcastle West this Tuesday (January 14).
“It’s great to see it being redeveloped, and it’s about time, the conditions in the previous Garda station were a disgrace,” a Garda source said.
During a visit at the dilapidated former Newcastle West Garda Station in 2022, two years after Gardaí were forced to vacate the property, Justice Minsister Helen McEntee described it as “not a place for anybody to work, there is no point saying otherwise”.
Superintendent Aileen Magnier, officially raised the poor state of the station, telling a meeting of the local joint policing committee in 2021 that the station was a “health and safety hazard” where “rats were looking down through the roof tiles”.
“It was not safe for staff, for prisoners, or people coming in,” Superintendent Magnier told the meeting.
This week, a new leaf was turned on the site of the former station, as first ground was broken on what will be a new state-of-the-art facility for the division and believed to be the largest new Garda station to be built outside of Dublin in the last decade and a half.
The new development at Churchtown Road, Newcastle West, faced lengthy delays, but site mobilisation works finally began this Tuesday, launched by Fine Gael Minister for the OPW and Limerick TD Kieran O’Donnell, who said the new building would be a deserving place of work for local Gardaí.
“I’ve no doubt people here are very proud and looking forward to this being in place, this is all about policing, and An Garda Síochána hold a real special place in the Irish community. I want to thank Commissioner Drew Harris and all the Gardaí here today for the fantastic work they do here on the ground,” said Minister O’Donnell.
“This building will enable you to do your work even more efficiently and effectively, and we thank you for it,” Minister O’Donnell told members of the force in attendance.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the new “purpose built station will not only greatly improve facilities for our personnel working from here, but crucially will support them in their mission of keeping the people of Newcastle West and surrounding areas safe”.
Minister for Further and Higher Education and Limerick TD Patrick O’Donovan said he was delighted “to witness this significant milestone” for the town “which is such an important development for policing in Limerick”.
“During my time as Minister of State for the OPW, I saw the project go to tender and I am delighted to be here to mark the commencement of works on site,” he added.
Tom O’Connor, managing director of the CONACK group, who won the tender for the 21-month construction contract, told the Limerick Post: “As a local contractor, we are delighted to be building this new Garda station in Newcastle West, it is, we understand, one of the biggest newer Garda stations outside of Dublin to be built in the last 10-15 years, it’s an honour for us, and it’s brilliant for Limerick and Newcastle West.”
