THE TÁNAISTE HAS announced a major €5 million accommodation refurbishment project for Collins Barracks in Cork.

Simon Harris TD, who is Minister for Defence, refurbishment project will provide accommodation for over 20 officers and will complement a recently completed accommodation block for enlisted personnel at the barracks.

Collins Barracks is a busy military facility on the northside of Cork city – it is home to a number of One Brigade units including artillery, cavalry squadron as well as engineers, transport, explosive ordnance disposal and communications. There are also a number of Reserve units. 

The Minister said that the funding was evidence of his Government’s work to give military personnel fit-for-purpose accomodation.

“That is reflected in an allocation for capital projects in 2025 of €50 million which, when taken together with the Defence Forces’ building maintenance and delegated minor projects, means that the overall building programme allocation stands at €62.5 million for this year,” he said.

The current accomodation block was constructed by the British army in 1806 – it suffered fire damage in 1922 but is now in need of “substantial refurbishment.

The block is listed as a building of regional importance in the architectural, historical and social categories on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

The work will follow similar projects in Haulbowline Naval Base as well as McKee Barracks in Dublin which required specialist conservation work. 

A massive building and refurbishment scheme across all Irish military bases is expected to cost €355 million in the next three years. 

The Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) is a capital investment project which will see Defence Forces facilities refurbished and designed to be carbon neutral.

The work has included a major refurbishment of an accommodation block at the Napoleonic era Haulbowline Naval Base, a complete building programme across McKee and also large scale building projects that include new training facilities and a new Special Forces base for the Army Ranger Wing. 

The contractor for the Collins Barracks refurbishment will be Vision Contract Ltd and the contract is valued at €4,948,181.77.