THE GOVERNMENT IS selling off forty former garda stations because it cannot identify alternative State uses for the buildings.
Junior Minister Brian Hayes announced the plans this morning to coincide with the publication of an ad searching for Estate Agents interested in disposing of the properties.
The first 40 stations to be sold are located in rural areas of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Carlow, Wexford, Cavan, Meath, Westmeath, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Mayo, Cork, Kerry and Galway.
A further 99 stations were closed in the past 18 months.
According to Hayes, his department has received a number of requests from various community groups across the country which have expressed interest in the buildings. He promised a further announcement on this by the middle of July.
It is understood that if the buildings cannot be sold on the open market, consideration will be given to applications from such organisations. Drama groups, parents’ associations, festival committees, sports clubs, dance studios and community bodies have all shown interest in using the buildings.
Of the 139 buildings, 17 have masts with licences with gross annual fees of about €200,000 to the State.
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