The signing of contracts for the construction of the new Garda HQ on the Dublin Road is a welcome development, but the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald must give assurances that Mill Street will be kept as a city centre Garda station.
This is the view of Independent Galway West TD Noel Grealish, who said that when the building of a new Garda HQ was first sanctioned, it was agreed between the then Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, and the Garda authorities, that Mill Street would be retained as a Garda station. “I will be seeking assurances from the current Minister that she will honour that commitment,” she said.
JJ Rhatigan and Company won the contract for the €15 million development of the new Garda Regional and Divisional Headquarters in Murrough, on a two-acre site opposite GMIT, on the Dublin Road. Preliminary site work is expected to get under way shortly to prepare the way for the construction of the 11,200 square metre, five storey building, with a basement carpark, stepping down to a single storey to the rear of the site.
Dep Grealish, who originally secured the site from the Department of Agriculture in 2007, said he was “delighted” that the project was at last coming to fruition.
