It is costing almost twice as much to maintain Galway’s network of recently shut-down rural Garda stations as the savings accrued from the closures.
The Government has conceded the net cost to the Exchequer of maintaining the ten rural Garda stations closed in Galway in 2013 is €3,000 per station per year.
The Department of Justice has confirmed that the annual saving arising from the closure of 139 Garda stations in 2013 is €4,000 per Garda station.
And now for the first time the Office of Public Works has conceded that it is spending some €7,000 per station every year to maintain the closed buildings.
This means that on average, each of the ten Garda stations right across Galway that was closed two years ago, is costing the State €3,000 per year.
The total cost is €30,000 on average per year, in Galway.
The figures were obtained by Galway East Fianna Fáil TD, Colm Keaveney, through several parliamentary questions.
“It would appear from the figures that the closure of Garda stations does not make economic sense,” he said.
“But it is not just the economic cost to the State of maintaining empty buildings; you cannot put a price on peace of mind that these Garda stations provided to thousands of people who are living in fear in their homes in rural parts of Galway,” he said.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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