Ballincollig to get new garda station
Thursday March 11 2010
THE people of Ballincollig will have a brand new garda station before the end of next year.
That was the promise made by Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe who was back on home turf this week to turn the sod on the proposed new €3.4 million facility.
The ceremony finally brought to an end an almost 15-year long campaign to secure the new station for the town, with construction work on the new building set to begin as early as next week.
The campaign to replace the existing building, a converted house originally built in 1884, was instigated back in the mid-1990s after the town experienced a massive population explosion.
The poor condition of the station was further highlighted in 2007 by the Garda Representative Association ( GRA), after they branded the dilapidated building as being among the " ten worst stations in the country".
It had been hoped that the new station would be up and running by now, however the issue was dogged by complex title issues relating to the site, which was formerly owned by the Department of Defence.
The sod-turning ceremony came shortly after it was announced that the contact for the new facility, adjacent to the existing station, had been awarded to Kildare-based BAM Building Ltd.
The new two-story building will incorporate four detention cells, two juvenile liaison rooms, dedicated interview and storage rooms and secure parking for staff and the public.
It will house the 25 gardaí currently stationed in the Ballincollig area which covers a population of some 25,000 people.
It is envisaged that the front office of the new station will be operational within 12 months, with the entire project set for completion by September 2011.
Minister O'Keeffe said it game him particular pleasure to be able to turn the sod on the new facility in his home town.
"This facility has been among my local area priorities for some time as the existing station, which is more than a century old, was inadequate to deal with the demands of this rapidly expanding town," said Minister O'Keeffe.
" Our gardai deserve state-of-the-art facilities and I am truly delighted that Ballincollig will be getting a new station before the end of next year," he added.
- BILL BROWNE bbrowne@corkman.ie
