New Garda control centre ‘will cost up to €60m’

A new Garda command and control centre to replace the current facility in Dublin will cost up to €60 million, according to estimates from the Department of Justice.

The current facility at Harcourt Square houses the Garda communications centre and is described as the "nerve centre" of the organisation's operations in the Dublin region.

The site is currently at the centre of a legal dispute between the Hibernia Reit property investment company and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Amid a threat of gardaí being evicted from Harcourt Square, OPW sources have said temporary alternative premises were being examined in East Point, near Dublin Tunnel, but that this would only house a maximum of half of the employees in Harcourt Square.

A briefing document prepared for Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald say a longer-term replacement has been identified at Military Road in Dublin city centre.

"The Harcourt Square complex, held under four leases by the Office of Public Works, accommodates a number of specialist Garda units (comprising approximately 800 members of An Garda Síochána), including the national support services, the special detective unit, the emergency response unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau, " the document says.

“Key Garda infrastructure, such as the communications command and control block, is also located in the complex.

"Due to the expiry of the leases, An Garda Síochána will have to vacate the complex by the middle of this year and it is working closely with the Office of Public Works to manage a structured departure.

“A site for long-term replacement accommodation, costing between €42 million and €60 million, has been identified at Military Road, Dublin.”

Staffing levels

The document also deals with staffing levels in An Garda Síochána and says the strength of the force could rise to 15,000 by 2021, as had been promised in the deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on a minority government.

It says the intake into the Garda training college has been 700 per year since Templemore re-opened in September 2014, but Garda authorities want this rate increased to 750 annually.

This would increase the levels to 14,000 quicker than anticipated, reaching that target by 2019, before reaching the 15,000 target by 2021.

The document says that there is a “large number of vacancies to be filled in the national specialist units (which will deplete the regions) and the organised crime and terrorist threats”.

It also says border controls and customs checks are likely if the UK leaves the EU in next week’s referendum.