GRA officer claims An Garda Síochána's new operations base is 'not fit for purpose'

The newly opened Walter Scott House on Military Road, Dublin, was recently completed on time and within its €86.6m budget, with all gardaí having vacated Harcourt Square as of 10 days ago. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

A Garda union officer working out of the force’s new operations base at Military Road in Dublin has criticised the building as being “not fit for purpose”.

Ciaran O’Neill, the Garda Representative Association’s delegate for the old command centre on Harcourt Square, said the the new build, while “impressive”, is in a number of practical ways “not suitable for policing”.

Writing for the force’s magazine Garda Review, Mr O’Neill noted that the open-plan nature of the new building renders it “completely unsuitable and potentially hazardous” for some of the employees working therein, notably the cybercrime bureau.

“Part of their role is to investigate the heinous offences of child exploitation and child pornography,” he wrote. “Staff members should be able to walk through an office safely and not to be exposed to such horrible imagery.”

He added that it “beggars belief” to have that unit working from 50 desks in an open office. “Rather than reducing the risk to exposure, placing this unit in an open plan office increases it,” Mr O’Neill said.

Military Road was recently completed on time and within its €86.6m budget, with all gardaí having vacated Harcourt Square as of 10 days ago.

However, for many years it has been broadly accepted that the building was not going to be large enough for its purpose, with roughly 550 gardaí thus having been placed at “overspill” properties around Dublin as a result.

Ciaran O’Neill noted that the open-plan nature of the new building renders it “completely unsuitable and potentially hazardous” for some of the employees working therein, notably the cybercrime bureau. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Mr O’Neill noted that, as previously reported in the Irish Examiner, Military Road was not on an initial shortlist of properties drawn up to replace Harcourt Square, from which the gardaí had been served with an eviction notice after the expiry of the lease.

“One has to wonder why it was chosen?” he asked.

“When fully occupied the building will have issues relating to parking, canteen faciliies, and expansion of specialist services,” he said, adding that “if the building is purpose-built then why is it necessary to seek parking spaces from external agencies”.

The GRA representative bemoaned the fact there had been “little or no consultation with the representative bodies” regarding the site allocation and plans for the new building.

“If they had been allowed meaningful input, then the issues with the new building as I see them would not have arisen.”