Limerick TD questions Taoiseach on Castletroy Garda Station

WILLIE O'Dea TD has questioned the Taoiseach in the Dáil about the delay in delivering a new Garda station for Castletroy, Limerick. The OPW has yet to identify a location for the new Garda station 18 months on.

Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy O'Dea said: "There has been much commentary about Government plans being stymied by bureaucratic inertia and delay. I will give a textbook example. After years of effort, we finally persuaded An Garda Síochána of the necessity for a new Garda station to serve the Castletroy–Monaleen–Annacotty area, a rapidly growing suburb of Limerick city. The Government accepted this, and I have been informed that capital funding has been provided."

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Deputy O’Dea continued: "For a period going on two years, we have been consistently informed that the OPW and Garda are liaising on the matter. This liaison is threatening to go on longer than many marriages I have come across. I ask the Taoiseach to use his good offices to bring this liaison to an end and move the project forward. Over 20,000 people live in the area and there is a tsunami of antisocial behaviour because the area is not being properly policed."

In response the Taoiseach said: "I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. In many ways, the growth of Castletroy owes a lot to Deputy O’Dea as he was the first to approach me, when I was Minister for Education, to get Castletroy College built. At the time, he helpfully pointed out that the civil servants were working off the wrong census in identifying the demographic requirements for a new school in Castletroy.”

“Anyway, we went ahead and built the new school but the population has grown exponentially. I will endeavour to turn the liaison between the OPW and An Garda Síochána into a more mature contract but I take the Deputy’s point that the station is required. I will talk to the Minister for Justice to determine whether he can move this on and I will also talk to the Minister of State responsible for the OPW, Deputy Moran. He tends to get things done."