The changing face of the law

A new generation of people-friendly Garda stations, designed more like office blocks than like places of detention, is beginning to replace the forbidding, often run-down, stations of old. Buildings that house the long arm of the law welcome visitors with open arms, as little by little the country's network of Garda stations is refurbished.

It is more than 10 years since gardai working at Mayorstone, Mary Street in Limerick moved into portakabins behind the station. Ask any Garda association to pinpoint the most rundown station in the State and it will be fairly high on a long list.

The Office of Public Works has plans to replace the condemned building and its sister station at Mayorstone is to be replaced with a new building. Work is due to start next month on Mayorstone, one of six large stations to be refurbished or replaced under the Government's building plan this year.

But for some people living near new stations, old Garda barracks such as Mary Street are starting to look like museum exhibits, but the days of dingy barracks are far from over. There are more than 700 Garda stations in the State, some of them in appalling condition. But for new stations, such as Dublin's Blanchardstown and Store Street, the look is more slick office than barracks.

The biggest difference is the first impression given to the public. If you had a passport application form stamped or reported a crime in the old Store Street station, you saw the worst of the old design. The public area was a cramped and grubby patch of linoleum with a hatch on to the "public office". Plastic sheeting stuck crookedly on the glass meant the men and women in uniform moved as blue blobs in the office.

You could be waiting to report a crime alongside a criminal waiting to sign on at the station, as part of their bail conditions. Victims of crime could come face to face with their assailants, making the station a very hostile environment.

Principal officer with the Department of Justice, John Cronin, says the criteria for all new stations have been agreed since 1993. The reception area for a divisional headquarters must be 40 sq metres, with another 30 sq metres work area behind the counter.

Legally, someone who is arrested has to be processed in a public office. However, in the cramped conditions of old stations, this led to great difficulties. In the new Store Street station, a separate public area has been set up to process prisoners.

Store Street has taken £7 million to complete and the second phase was finished in the past month. One new facility is a victim suite. Designed for people to give statements to gardai, the room is to be furnished more in the style of a livingroom than an office. Coffee and tea-making facilities and a shower room are all part of the suite.

Along with Mayorstone, the major stations due for refurbishment or rebuilding in this year's £6.5 million Office of Public Works capital building programme are: Clondalkin and Rathmines, in Dublin; Bray, Co Wicklow; Cobh, Co Cork; and Tullamore, Co Offaly. Separate funding is being allocated to build a six lecture-theatre complex and new 100-bed accommodation block at the Garda Training College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.

Most of the refurbishment involves building on existing sites. However, the development of the State's station network is now subject to the same building inflation as the private sector, of up to 40 per cent, says Mr Cronin.

Blackrock Garda Station in Dublin was built by a private developer and sold to the OPW. The station was part of a larger site and the developer agreed to build the station and supply the site as part of the deal.

Most of the new stations are covered in plaster although some are brick, according to OPW assistant principal architect, Michael Haugh. The granite of the old barracks is now too expensive for large modern stations.

"We don't have a house style. Each building responds to its particular environment," says Mr Haugh. "These are essentially administrative centres." As such, they are designed like office buildings, with the addition of cells and interview rooms. "They are not fortified buildings, although there is a certain amount of security involved."

Plans for new Garda stations are dealt with under a special section of the 1994 Planning Act, along with courthouses and prisons. The public is shown what the building will look like from the outside, told how many people will be working in it and the size of any parking facility. But detailed floor plans are not made public, for security reasons.

The one thing the Garda authorities insist is that it must display the familiar blue lamp.

Late last year, the National Crime Forum recommended that the Garda consider setting up small shop-front stations in shopping centres. These could be staffed by civilians, large city stations could be closed, and gardai would spend more time with the communities they police, the forum members said.

Although that idea is unlikely to become a reality, it is hoped the development of new Garda buildings and the demise of the infamous hatch will improve community relations.