Construction work on a €28 million Garda headquarters for the west of Ireland is due to begin in the coming weeks.
The Galway Regional and Divisional Headquarters at Murrough Road in Galway city will have 12,000 square metres of space of which 4,000 square metres will be a basement.
It will include a public office, conference, training and custody facilities, along with accommodation for a vehicle testing garage, a firing range and victim support facilities.
The contract has been awarded to JJ Rhatigan & Company and the project is of two years duration.
The site was visited by the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and by the Garda Commissioner Noirín O'Sullivan on Friday.
Dedicated victim support
Commissioner O’Sullivan said there will be dedicated victim support facilities and better equipment to investigate crime with dedicated rooms for fingerprinting, scenes of crime, custody facilities, and a property and exhibit store all in the one facility.
“We see this building as being a centre of excellence for our people in Galway and the West as it will have state of the art training facilities for areas such as firearms, continuous professional development, and the training of Probationer Gardaí,” she said.
Ms Fitzgerald said it was essential that Gardaí are “supported, resourced and equipped to deliver effective policing services for the 21st century and to tackle the realities of crime in our communities”.
