OPW refuses to clarify how it miscalculated capacity needed for new Garda facility

The build at Military Road has only space for 880 personnel, 200 fewer Garda members than were working at Harcourt Square in 2016 when Military Road was first chosen as the site of the new operations centre. File picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has refused to clarify how it underestimated the capacity needs for the new €86.6m Garda Dublin control centre by a factor of more than 500 personnel.

Earlier this month, the chair of the OPW Maurice Buckley told the Public Accounts Committee that the body “does not progress a project beyond the planning stage (of a construction project) until the brief and scheme is agreed with the client to ensure that any changes, such as staff increases anticipated at the time or operational change, are incorporated into the scheme".