FIANNA FÁIL has described as “baffling” a Government newspaper advertisement seeking to rent Army training facilities in towns where they are closing barracks.
In November last year, the Government announced plans to close Army barracks in Cavan, Mullingar, Clonmel and Castlebar. The closures, set to take place by March 30th, will see more than 500 Army personnel redeployed to barracks around the country.
On Wednesday, however, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter confirmed that his department had this week placed ads in local newspapers in each of the four towns seeking accommodation for members of the Defence Forces reserve units.
Fianna Fáil spokesman for defence, Dara Calleary last night said he was “baffled” that the department was looking for Army premises in towns where barracks were to shut. He said the move was “confirmation of the Government’s warped logic” in closing the facilities.
Responding last night, the Department of Defence said that as the barracks in each of the towns had a reserve defence force training unit attached to it, it was necessary to find alternative accommodation for them. The statement said it was “simply not cost-effective to keep a full barracks open to cater for a reserve unit”.
