I wish to raise the issue of the long and sad saga of Clonmel Garda station. It has been raised in the House for the past 40 years and still there are no better facilities for the Garda Síochána, which I salute, under the direction of Superintendent William Leahy. I also pay tribute to one of his colleagues who died recently, Sergeant Martin Hopkins, who was an excellent young garda.

It is just not fair. It has been announced more times, including by previous Ministers such as Deputies Alan Kelly and Michael Lowry and many others. We know some contracts were signed and there is a public private partnership, but when are we going to see any movement towards putting the station on the new site? We had an announcement this week about funding for the site at Kickham Barracks. I welcome that but there has been nothing for the Garda station or the gardaí who work in those appalling conditions. It is time that we had the plans and the JCBs on site to get this moving because the current situation is not acceptable.

I am keen that progress be reported on this issue. I acknowledge the Deputy's interest in the Garda station in Clonmel, along with others. I had the opportunity to visit the existing Garda station and I agree that it needs to be replaced.

The new bundle of public private partnerships for Garda stations has been announced. The Government is committed to ensuring that the bundle, among which is the Clonmel Garda station, will be completed. A number of legal and technical difficulties are outstanding. My officials, together with officials in the Office of Public works and the local authorities, are keen to resolve this with a view to ensuring there will be people on site next year.