Construction starts for Army Special Forces HQ

The Commission on the Defence Forces in February 2022 recommended that the ARW should have permanent air and maritime task groups in Baldonnel Airport in Dublin and Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork. File picture

The Government has signed a contract worth almost €18m for the construction of the first stage of a modern facility for the Defence Forces’ elite armed intervention unit.

Building of a new headquarters for the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) has been hit by delays.

In January 2024, Taoiseach Micheál Martin signalled that construction was due to start and, in November of that year, said the expected completion date for the headquarters was 2027.

Defence minister Helen McEntee said on Wednesday her department had signed a €17.65m contract for the construction of the ARW headquarters at Defence Forces Training Centre, Curragh, Co Kildare.

She said the contract represents “phase one” of the development of the purpose-built Special Operations Forces facility, a three-phase project with a total cost of around €46m.

The minister said funding was part of the €1.7bn in the National Development Plan for Defence.

She said work on the project would start immediately and was scheduled to take 21 months, suggesting December 2028 as completion date.

Phases two and three have a combined pre-tender estimate of over €30m, with the department saying the provision of those phases will be dependent on the budgetary position.

The Commission on the Defence Forces in February 2022 recommended that the ARW should have permanent air and maritime task groups in Baldonnel Airport in Dublin and Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork.

The updated Government Detailed Implementation Plan, published last month, put a completion date for this recommendation of December 2028.