New €25 million plan for Portlaoise Garda Station to have big jobs spin-off says Garda chief

The long-anticipated plan to redevelop Portlaoise Garda Station finally looks set to proceed.

Garda Chief Superintendent John Scanlan confirmed that new plans for the station, which is the HQ of the Laois, Offaly, Kildare Garda Division, will go for planning within weeks.

He hopes that once approved that construction workers would be on-site by the end of 2021. Apart from the policing benefit, he added that the building work has the potential to deliver hundreds of jobs.

“That is a significant milestone. I want to thank all public representatives for their support. It is an important project not just for the Garda Síochána but employment in the area. There will be several hundred jobs here in the building of the project ,” he said.

Laois Offaly TD and Minister of State Seán Fleming welcomed the measure. He has also received a commitment from the Office of Public Works which states that the new premises will serve as HQ for a division for three counties.

“This is not just upgrading a garda station, this is making it fit for purpose as the HQ for a population of 400,000 people,” he said.

Designs had been drawn up previously but the project has been revised upwards in scale due to the fact that the Portlaoise Station on the Abbeyleix Road will now serve as the Divisional HQ for the three counties which have a population of 400,000. 

The OPW has informed the Laois TD who is Minister of State at the Department of Finance that the cost of the project will increase from €13 million to €24 million as a consequence commensurate with the scale of operations. He has also been told that negotiations are ongoing to agree on funding for the building work.

Confirmation that plans for the station were confirmed at the Laois Joint Policing Committee on Monday, November 16.

The project has also been revised to facilitate the relocation of a Defence Forces facility from a site behind the garda station which is used as a pre-clearance facility. A new facility will now be built at the Irish Prison Service College.