Minister O’Keeffe turns sod on new €3.4m Garda station in Ballincollig

The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, today [Monday] turned the sod on a new €3.4 million Garda station in Ballincollig which is expected to be completed 18 months from now.

The move follows the award of the contract for the project to BAM Building Ltd.

Construction work is expected to start before the end of the month.

Minister O’Keeffe said: ‘I am delighted that we have brought the project to construction stage and that local gardaí and the people of Ballincollig will have a new Garda station in the town before the end of next year.’

The new Garda station will be a two-storey building with detention, interview and storage rooms, four cells, kitchen and parking space.

‘The new Garda station in Ballincollig has been among my local area priorities for some time and I have pressed hard for progress even at this time of severe pressure on Exchequer resources.

‘The existing station, which is well over a century old, is inadequate.

‘Our brave and committed gardaí deserve proper state-of-the-art facilities in which to work.

‘Today’s sod-turning demonstrates our commitment to policing and to high-quality Garda facilities,’ said Minister O'Keeffe.