Bagenalstown Fire Station to get €4m upgrade

BAGENALSTOWN Fire Station has been allocated almost €4 million in capital funding for the upgrade of the existing station.

At the October meeting of Muinebheag Municipal District, elected representatives were informed of the decision by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to grant the funding, following an appraisal by Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service.

Initially, the department had approved €2,778,244 in capital funding for the project. However, following essential site investigations which identified underlying issues, the projected costs rose by another €1,118,756.

The project is now expected to cost €3,897,000.

It is expected that a contractor will be appointed by May 2027, with a provisional completion date given as September 2028.

The meeting heard that infill beneath parts of the building would need to be removed by a specialist contractor, extending the construction period from the initially expected 12 months to 14 months.

Acting chief fire officer Ben Woodhouse said upgrading the existing fire station rather than moving to a greenfield site offered several benefits, including a larger station and a shorter construction period.

“Our firefighters reside within a travel distance of the current station, so if we moved, that also could have been affected,” he added.

Director of services at the council Padraig O’Gorman confirmed there was a “big push” from the council to upgrade the existing fire station building instead of moving to a new site.

“Trying to repurpose that building for another use and finding another site would have been very problematic,” Mr O’Gorman said, adding that the Fire and Rescue Service had gone “well beyond the extra mile” to obtain the capital funding.

“It’s not easy to secure this funding, and we are continually punching above our weight level, or sometimes lightweight in a heavyweight division. But we continue to do that, and we very much look forward now to moving to the statutory process, getting the permission out to tender, and under construction next year,” Mr O’Gorman said.