Row over gardaí renting hotel space

GARDA chiefs were last night accused of diverting attention from a chronic accommodation shortage in a row about renting rooms at a well-known hotel complex.

The force has hired space in the Plaza complex in Tallaght, south Dublin, which houses a hotel, nightclub, casino and several bars, because of an overflow at the nearby Tallaght Garda Station.

But after a senior opposition politician branded the arrangement a disgrace, Garda bosses moved to dismiss any suggestion that the force was using hotel rooms.

Pat Rabbitte, TD for the area and Labour’s justice spokesman, said the row was not about “when a bedroom is not a bedroom”, but the chronic lack of space at a single Garda station serving 79,000 local people.

“This is just a rose by any other name. This is just trying to avoid the issue, which is that the Tallaght station is not fit for purpose,” he said.

Parts of the Plaza Hotel have been annexed or compartmentalised since the company who owned it, Ducci Ltd, went into liquidation last November. Liquidator PJ Lynch has been appointed to wind up the company.

While the Plaza still operates as a popular, fully-functioning hotel, sections of the building have been leased to other businesses.

The office space leased to gardaí is some 990sq m.

Mr Rabbitte said: “I would expect the Garda authority to address the issue I raised, which is that Tallaght Garda station is no longer fit for purpose, rather than splitting hairs about the definition of when a bedroom is not a bedroom.

“Is it the case or is it not that gardaí are going to be carrying out their functions outside of the Garda station?”

In a statement, a Garda spokeswoman said the force was not currently renting, nor has it previously rented, hotel rooms in the Plaza.

“As an interim measure, the Office of Public Works (OPW) was requested to provide additional accommodation in Tallaght for Garda use.”

“Following this request, the OPW identified office accommodation which it had already leased in the Plaza Office Complex and which is now vacant,” the spokeswoman said.

“It is expected that gardaí based in Tallaght will be in a position to take up occupation in the Plaza Office Complex during 2009, thereby relieving some of the current accommodation pressures in the existing Garda station.”