NEWCASTLE West garda station is plagued with problems and risks and members assigned to the station feel like the “forgotten ones”.
That is according to staff stationed there and members of the Garda Representative Association who have aired their concerns to the divisional committee.
Garda Frank Thornton, GRA representative in Limerick, told the Limerick Post that conditions at the station have “grown considerably worse”.
“There are a litany of issues surrounding the current facilities for members working out of Newcastle West Garda Station.
“For Gardai with persons in custody, it involves conveying prisoners through the main public foyer. This never has been a viable means of transporting persons in custody”.
Free standing chairs and office equipment pose risks to members encountering violent prisoners, Garda Thornton said.
“Locker rooms provided at Newcastle West Garda Station fall well short of that required by the legislation given that Gardai are required to wear uniform, but also must have sufficient capacity to store items of personal protective equipment.
“There are no facilities for pregnant, post natal or breast feeding employees to rest pursuant to Regulation 24 of the 2007 regulations.
“The pressing issue presenting today and for the past number of years is that the membership and public of Newcastle West District have had enough and will not tolerate any further ‘kicking the can down the road’ politics.
The Newcastle West station covers a geographical area of over 1,400 sqkm of County Limerick since the amalgamation of the Newcastle West and Askeaton districts in 2013.
In June 2015, at the behest of the Garda Representative Association, an engineers inspection of the station was carried out. Fault were highlighted and the matter has been raised at Divisional Committee level ever since by Garda Alan O’Donnell attached to the station’s representative committee.
Members are frustrated and feel like the “forgotten ones” he said.
Along with a rat infestation in mid 2015 and the overcrowding of the mess facilities and female shower areas with member’s lockers, Garda Thornton said that it’s clear the station is ‘not fit for purpose’.
Local TDs, including Deputy Tom Neville, were utterly shocked at the working conditions presented.
Deputy Neville said that he has raised the matter at Government level and was told that the finance for Newcastle West Garda Station has been sanctioned but at present the issue relates to the Office of Public Works who have yet to respond.
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