Fianna Fáil Cllr Joe Flaherty has called for the government to begin work on the Longford town Garda station refurbishment.

The €500,000 funding for the project was first approved in May last year.

Cllr Flaherty hit out at the delay following a recent Joint Policing Committee meeting where it was confirmed a start date had not yet been outlined.

He said: "The Longford station is the busiest in the Longford-Roscommon district and I know that the planned works include a major incident room which is urgently needed. The town has the largest number of critical incidents over the course of the year and the team on the ground need to be given the infrastructure to fight crime and support their operations.

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"Modern crime fighting demands modern infrastructure and a critical incident room and a tactical support room are needed to help Gardaí protect the local community. These additions will enable the installation of high definition screens that will allow the local Gardaí to monitor a digital CCTV network for the town should it ever come on stream."

With concerns that cutbacks may be delaying project, Mr Flaherty has urged the Department of Justice and OPW to resolve any issues so the project can be completed by the end of the year.

(CM/MH)