An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Manus Boyle (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I wish to raise an issue about Clogher barracks, which is located near Portnoo in beautiful Donegal. It is a building with history and potential. It was operated as a Garda station but has been closed since 1999. For over two decades this fine structure has stood idle despite clear interest from the local community in bringing it back into meaningful use. Since 12 September 2018, the Narin Portnoo Rosbeg Community Co-operative Society has been actively engaging with the Office of Public Works and An Garda Síochána regarding the future of the building. Representatives from both organisations met the local community on site. Following that meeting there were strong expectations the building would be leased to the community to look after. However, several years on, nothing has happened. The community have shown patience, commitment and a genuine willingness to take responsibility for the building. They are a tight-knit community and work tirelessly to create all opportunities to strengthen bonds and work together. Their interest in the barracks is not speculative but rooted in a vision for the community. This community wants to come together and make the building a place where they can advertise what goes on in the local area. As Members will know, we have the thatching college down there. There is so much this building could be used for and this delay is really unacceptable. Maybe we could try to get the two groups together to see if we could get this signed over to the local co-operative, which really wants to make something good of it. The committee really is first-class.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25