Macroom gardaí defer walkout over station row

GARDAÍ have decided to defer a walkout of a dilapidated district headquarters in mid-Cork after receiving assurances the OPW will build a new station.

The organisation which represents rank-and-file members of the force, the Garda Representative Association (GRA), met with officials from the OPW earlier this week, ahead of the planned walkout at Macroom Garda Station on Tuesday next.

GRA central executive committee member Pat O’Sullivan said OPW officials had promised to place an advertisement in newspapers shortly seeking a greenfield site on which to build a new station.

In the meantime, the OPW has also said it will seek alternative temporary accommodation for the 53 gardaí currently stationed in Macroom.

The GRA has always maintained there are a number of vacant premises in the town which would suit as alternative temporary accommodation.

Initially, the OPW said it wanted to upgrade the existing station, but the GRA said this would be unacceptable.

According to the GRA, the Victorian building which houses the regular gardaí and the traffic corps was far too cramped for 53 people working there.

In 1980, the same building was manned by just 16 gardaí and no extension has been added to it since then.

The dire conditions at Macroom were highlighted at the GRA’s annual conference in Limerick last April.

A total of 18 female gardaí share one toilet in a facility without hot water.

There is no fire escape on the second floor and the 10ft by 10ft kitchen doubles as an interview room.

Meanwhile, 16 members of the traffic corps are assigned to an office the size of a phone box.

Garda O’Sullivan said the GRA had decided to defer the walkout in the hope the OPW would make progress.

He added, however, that gardaí in Macroom would reassess the situation on September 8 and decide if any further action would be needed.

Meanwhile, Minister for Trade and Commerce Billy Kelleher has asked the GRA to show a little more patience with the conditions their members have to endure at Glanmire Garda Station.

The GRA has said that station is not suitable and practical for modern day policing, but the Cork North Central TD has pleaded with GRA leaders to work with him in finding a suitable new site.

With OPW now requesting submissions for a suitable site or building in Glanmire, Mr Kelleher believes gardaí there will soon have a new facility.