The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter, T.D., has welcomed today’s announcement by the Government that a total of €190m will be invested in a range of Garda and courts capital projects as well as a new laboratory for the State Pathologist.  

The Government has approved the provision of three new Garda Divisional Headquarters for the Dublin South Central, Galway and Wexford Divisions. In addition the Government has approved court refurbishment developments in Cork, Mullingar and Waterford as well as new courts buildings in Drogheda, Letterkenny, Limerick and Wexford.  The Minister said: “The provision of the three new Garda Divisional headquarters will significantly enhance the capacity of the Force to carry out its functions more effectively.  The current Garda accommodation at the three locations does not meet modern policing requirements and the new facilities will constitute a major modernisation of Garda infrastructure.  

Furthermore, the enhancement of courts facilities around the country will help to deliver improvements leading to reduced waiting times and reduced costs of litigation.  The improvements in court buildings in city and county town locations around the country will allow the rationalisation of court sittings and help to deliver efficiencies in delivering services through the use of improved facilities and technology.  

These priority projects had been postponed due to funding shortages and I am delighted the Government has decided to proceed with this much needed investment.  The capital investment in these venues will be designed to operate as efficiently as possible with a view to eliminating many of the space, security and safety, and prisoner management problems and associated risks with the current facilities.  

The facility for the Office of the State Pathologist and the Dublin Coroner will allow a project known as the “medico-legal centre”, which had been postponed due to lack of funding, to be completed.  It will incorporate post-mortem rooms, laboratories and modern mortuary facilities for use by the Office of the State Pathologist and the Dublin Coroner in a shared service environment. The state of the art facility will play a vital role in death investigation process and provide enhanced facilities for staff, professionals and members of the public.

It is expected that the projects will commence in 2013 and construction will continue during 2014 and 2015. ”