BY DARA BRADLEY

The long-delayed €15 million new Garda Regional and Divisional Headquarters in Galway will be built as part of the €190 million justice envelope in the Government’s stimulus plan announced on Tuesday.

The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has confirmed that construction on the proposed 8,000 square metre facility on the Dublin Road, opposite Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, will commence in 2013. It is expected to be completed by 2015.

The project, first mooted several years ago and progressed under the watch of the then Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, stalled in the past years due to the economic crisis but was resurrected this week as a result of the Government’s €2.25 billion investment in public infrastructure programmes.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has prepared contract documents for the facility, which went on public display in the summer of 2010.

The plans at the time showed that as well as a 4,000sqm basement, the building will house prisoner cells, a firing range, offices, conference facilities and a vehicle testing area. The HQ will be accessed from Murrough Avenue and will have parking for 218 cars. The project was given a €15 million price tag at the time.

The need for a new facility was identified years ago due to the space issues of the ageing Galway Garda Station – it is understood that the current station in the city centre will be retained as a Garda Station.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.