STEPASIDE GARDA STATION will re-open next month, it has been confirmed.

The long-awaited move was announced by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris today at a joint policing committee meeting of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

The garda commissioner confirmed the station, which closed in 2013, would re-open on 9 March.

“Stepaside Garda Station will run a fully operational 24/7 policing service, with the public office opening from 7am to 9pm daily,” he said.

Harris also confirmed the station would have one sergeant, 15 gardaí and a Roads Policing Unit.

The reopening of the station will bring the number of operational garda stations in the country to 567.

The move was a commitment for the Programme for Government during the last Dáil. The station’s closure was the subject of major protests at the time.

In 2017, a garda report recommended re-opening the garda station, along with five others, on a pilot basis to give the force extra coverage across the country.

A total of 139 garda stations around the country closed between 2012 and 2013 under the previous government following an operational assessment carried out by then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.