The purpose of raising this matter on the Adjournment is to get the Ballinspittle Garda station contract moving. Everybody knows of Ballinspittle because of its moving statue, yet it seems virtually impossible to move this Government to get the work on its Garda station under way.
In November 1996 approval was given by the last Government for the expenditure of over £42,000 on the necessary improvement work. However, all is quiet a year later on the Ballinspittle Garda station front. Not a single nail has been driven; there has not been one iota of movement. As the seanchaí would say, things have rested so. That is my concern.
Having the village garda living in the area in which he or she polices is a sensible policy and has many advantages. However, the married quarters in Ballinspittle were last occupied in 1988 and they are in a very bad state of repair. The last Government took action. It appointed a married officer on a temporary basis to the Ballinspittle subdistrict last year. A decision was made in November on the improvement expenditure and that officer was offered a permanent appointment. He was prepared to accept it because he thought the work would be completed reasonably quickly. There followed the necessary tendering. Perhaps it is coincidental, but since the new Government came into office nothing has happened. That is very unfair to the people of Ballinspittle who want their local garda and his family to live in the area. There are the usual problems common to any village which need to be attended to and the people would feel happier if this were done by a garda living in the married quarters attached to the Garda station. They also want the work done to bring the Garda station up to date. Apart from these problems, unusual problems arise now and again from the point of view of traffic congestion as there are ceremonies in Ballinspittle of which the Minister will be aware.
It is also very unfair to the officer concerned. It is now a condition of his employment that he live in Ballinspittle, yet this Government will not have the work done to bring the married quarters up to scratch. In the meantime he has to live in rented accommodation. I am not sure of his personal circumstances but I understand that under Garda regulations, he must carry the expense of his rent.
I understand that, by an amazing coincidence, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform indicated locally through his colleague, the local Deputy, that finance was being made available for renovation and refurbishment and that the contract had gone to the Office of Public Works. I would regard that as a breach of privilege but at the same time I want the work done. Whether it is a breach of privilege, it is sharp practice. The Minister is not here to justify himself and the Minister of State is probably going to read that into the record.
I have four questions for the Minister. Why was there a delay of a year in getting the contract moving? On what date will the work start? On what date will it finish? When can the Garda officer move in? Although I have no instructions or brief from the garda concerned, I think I should raise the reimbursement of the rent paid by him. The Government has some answering to do on this matter. It is time to get work on the Ballinspittle Garda station moving.
