Justice Minister seeks to re-open Garda stations on pilot basis
Six stations will re-open under a pilot project. These will then be reviewed to see if they have changed local crime levels.
Ms Fitzgerald will seek Cabinet approval to permit Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to begin the process. The pilot will then be reviewed by the policing authority.
It has been suggested that Stepaside station, in the constituency of Transport Minister Shane Ross, may end up on the list, as part of the deal which secured his support for the Government.
But Government sources insist that the decision on which stations re-open their doors is “an operational matter” for Commissioner O’Sullivan.
Meanwhile, Independent Alliance ministers will today meet and decide whether to support or oppose a Dáil bill this week to allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.
Alliance minister John Halligan told the Irish Examiner he wanted to support Independent TD Mick Wallace’s bill but needed to decide on advice from the attorney general that it may be “unconstitutional”.
“We should be given a free vote on this as everyone nearly in the house [the Dáil] is getting one,” he said.
Health Minister Simon Harris is expected to inform his cabinet colleagues that the Government must oppose the bill. Mr Harris has said the current state of abortion laws is “completely unacceptable” but that he cannot support a bill outside the law.
Cabinet will also be dominated by the Brexit result and is set to begin at 7.30am this morning to allow Taoiseach Enda Kenny attend an EU summit.
Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar and Housing Minister Simon Coveney will also bring a memo to Cabinet today to increase rent limits under the Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment schemes.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party yesterday launched a private member’s bill to reform the admission to religious schools. It will be debated later today and voted on on Thursday.
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