The Department of Justice is considering handing over part of the newly acquired Citywest site to An Garda Síochána for a new station following recent violence in the area.
Last month, the State formally completed the purchase of the Citywest Hotel site in Saggart, Dublin, for €148 million. It was bought to be used as a permanent International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre. The State had rented the site since 2020, initially for Covid-19 testing and later for accommodating asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
A number of violent protests took place outside the centre last week following the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl by a Citywest resident who had previously been subject to a deportation order.
The suspect is before the courts. Several dozen people alleged to have been involved in the rioting, which saw a Garda vehicle set alight and horses ridden into Garda lines, have also been arrested.
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On Tuesday, a community engagement team from the Department of Justice met local representatives from the Saggart area to discuss the centre and the recent violence.
According to several attendees of the meeting, department representatives said they are prepared to hand over part of the site for a new Garda station to police both the local area and the centre.
It will be up to Garda management, however, to make a final decision, sources said.
Local representatives have long called for a 24-hour Garda station for Saggart. It is currently policed on a part-time basis from the Garda station in Rathcoole, which lacks cells and interview rooms.
In response to queries, a Department of Justice spokesman said community members and elected representatives have raised suggestions about using the Citywest site to provide local services, including a new Garda station for Saggart.
“This and other suggestions from our stakeholders remain under consideration by the Department, the Minister and the Government, [all of whom] remain committed to listening to local people and leaders, and helping to support essential local services in this area.”
Independent councillor Francis Timmons, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he has been campaigning for a local station since long before the opening of an IPAS centre at Citywest.
The reason he wants to see one opened there is because the State already owns the land. “It makes sense. We would all be giving out, including me, if they went and purchased somewhere else.”
Mr Timmins said people need to feel safe in their community “whether they were born in Saggart, or moved there or are in the IPAS centre”.
He said he will be laying down a motion at the next local area meeting calling on Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly to properly resource a station at Citywest.
“What we don’t want is a commitment to a Garda station and then, in 10 years’ time, to be sitting here with no Garda station,” he said. “If people are not feeling safe now, we need to respond to that. People need to feel they are listened to.”
The Citywest complex houses about 2,500 people, including 350 Ukrainian families. About 50 acres of the 120-acre site remains undeveloped.
Social Democrats councillor Eoin Ó Broin said additional resources are needed in the area “for community policing and combating domestic violence”, and not for “policing migrants”.
Meanwhile, gardaí are continuing to maintain a presence at the site. This is expected to continue over the Halloween period. A number of peaceful protests have taken place there this week.
