Vol. 421 No. 5
106 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Justice whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that many Garda Síochána barracks are either in bad or substandard condition throughout the country; if he will list those which he considers to be substandard or in bad condition; and if he will outline his plans to deal with this serious matter and give a timescale for their improvement.
I can assure the Deputy of my commitment to bring all Garda accommodation up to a proper standard. When the Garda building programme was launched about seven years ago a serious problem existed. Many stations were in a very poor condition. Since then, eight divisional headquarters stations, 13 district headquarters stations, over 30 smaller stations and four major extensions have been provided, at a cost to the Exchequer of over £35 million. In addition, substantial sums of money have been directed towards the maintenance of Garda stations, for example £2.3 million was spent in this way in 1991 and a further £1.9 million will be spent this year. All of this expenditure has seen most of the worst black spots dealt with. There are still areas which require attention and they are being addressed as rapidly as possible, having regard to available resources.
It would be misleading to list all the stations which are not up to standard, as problems relating to them can vary greatly and can be remedied in many different ways. Frequently stations which would formerly have been adequate are replaced or extended because of changes in Garda accommodation requirements. Many of the buildings which house Garda Stations are old; some require structural improvement, others new facilities such as central heating, new kitchen facilities, shower facilities, improvements to cells and so on. Finally, a large amount of the work which takes place is of a minor nature and is part of an ongoing process of maintenance and modernisation.
