Minister for Transport Shane Ross will be granted one of his main demands for entering government, with the reopening of a Garda station in his constituency set to be announced within weeks.
The Independent TD pushed for the reopening of Stepaside Garda station in the Dublin Rathdown constituency. A review of all closed stations was included in the government deal he concluded with Fine Gael.
Such is Mr Ross’s anticipation of the decision that he has prepared leaflets, understood to include pictures of him in the surrounding housing estates, welcoming the station’s reopening .
The programme for government contained a commitment to review the “boundaries of Garda districts and the dispersement of Garda stations in rural areas and in developing urban and suburban areas”.
Final report
In the Dáil yesterday, Tánaiste
Frances Fitzgerald
flagged that the report on Garda stations would be completed in May. “This is an operational matter for An
Garda Síochána
, ” the Minister for Justice said. “I expect to have a final report in May.”
As part of the review, a pilot scheme would see six Garda stations – “both urban and rural” – reopening in order to “determine possible positive impacts that such openings will have on criminal activity, with a special emphasis on burglaries, theft and public order”, according to the programme for government.
While the Policing Authority will oversee the review, the six trial stations were chosen by the Garda and signed off by Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan. Sources said they included Stepaside, but it is not yet clear what other stations will be on the list.
The process within the force has been completed and the six trial stations have now to be signed off by the Policing Authority.
Mr Ross and his staff have been consistently lobbying their Fine Gael counterparts in recent months in an effort to speed up a decision on Stepaside.