Newly-renovated garda station is officially opened
Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, Minister for the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris have today officially reopened the newly refurbished Athlone Garda Station.
In 2019, a major project to refurbish and extend Athlone Garda Station first got underway. The original two storey detached premises on Barrack St was built in 1947 and required an extensive upgrade in order to meet the standards required to provide a modern police service to the ever growing District of Athlone and its surrounds.
Work on the refurbished station began in 2019 and despite significant delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; the project was completed earlier this year. Having refurbished the adjacent vacant building and existing station, the District of Athlone now has a considerably larger and therefore more comfortable and accommodating station and district headquarters for victims of crime, the general public and Garda personnel operating there.
The newly refurbished District Headquarters in Athlone Garda Station will serve a District of over 26,100 residents, with the heaviest concentration of the population in Athlone town itself which has a population of 21,349 (2016 Census). This number is set to increase as preliminary CSO figures from the 2022 Census indicate the County of Westmeath has seen an 8% population increase since the last 2016 Census. In addition to the static population, the District Headquarters will also cater to the needs of the Athlone Institute of Technology (TUS) student population, as well as to other local educational facilities and business, including many multinationals.
Currently, there are over 100 Garda personnel attached to the refurbished Divisional Headquarters in Athlone. The new station, located in the centre of Athlone town has a fully accessible public reception, prisoner processing and custody areas, with live CCTV and Audio Recording all contained within the building, as well as a number of electric vehicle charging points for current and future fleet upgrades.