A former garda station in Kerry is due to be placed on the market, 13 years after it was closed.
The garda station in Brosna closed on 31st January 2013, and after efforts to find a use for it by other state bodies, an auctioneer has been procured to bring it to the market.
Earlier this year, Kerry County Council formally notified the Office of Public Works it would not be pursuing an acquisition of the property.
The Garda District and Station Rationalisation Programme led to the closure of 139 garda stations in 2012 and 2013, including three in Kerry; Moyvane, Brosna, and Kilgarvan.
The former garda station and residence in Brosna is a protected structure, located on the village square.
Once it closed, it was handed over to the Office of Public Works, which follows a strict protocol for the disposal of vacant properties.
This protocol prioritises keeping the building within state hands if any uses can be found, and the OPW says no properties are disposed of until there is absolute certainty that there’s no alternative state requirement for them, which it says is often a lengthy process.
In 2019, then-Minister for the OPW Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran told the Dáil that the Brosna Heritage Society contacted the OPW by phone in 2014 and 2017 expressing an interest in the property.
The OPW asked the society for a business case, but Minister Moran said the society never responded.
At that stage, in 2019, the OPW said it would dispose of the property in line with policy, if there was no alternative state interest in it.
The OPW told Radio Kerry that Kerry County Council considered the property in Brosna on two occasions; first for social housing purposes, which it decided against in October 2020.
The OPW then told the council in May 2021 that if it wanted the property for community purposes, it would consider a sale or lease/purchase option.
The sale of vacant garda stations was then paused in 2022, to see if they could be used to house Ukrainian refugees, but it went back up for disposal in September 2023.
The door was left open for Kerry County Council to explore a community use, but it was only earlier this year that Kerry County Council formally notified the OPW there was already a very busy and active community centre in Brosna, with no need for a second.
The OPW has now told Radio Kerry that an auctioneer has been procured to manage the sale of the property, which after 13 years, is finally expected to be placed on the market in early 2026.
