By Sean Moriarty

For the first time in over 10 years a local garda station reopened this week - and plans are now in place for it to be manned permanently.

A dedicated Garda officer is to be stationed at Barraduff Garda Station after it officially reopened on Tuesday.

Garda Declan Leader has been appointed as the Officer in Charge (OIC), and the station will also have a dedicated patrol attached to it.

An Garda Síochána made the decision to re-open the station full-time as a result of the growing population in the village.

The station was left unmanned following Government cutbacks as a result of the recession in 2008 and 2009.

Barraduff is situated on the N71 main Killarney to Mallow road and is a busy commuter and tourist route.

“This is a very positive development,” Superintendent Flor Murphy told the Killarney Advertiser.

“We are delighted to be in a position to do this.”

The news has been welcomed by community groups in the area.

“News like this is always a welcome development,” Tadgh O’Shea of the Barraduff Community Field Organisation told the Killarney Advertiser. “There are more and more new people moving into the area.”

The Barraduff Tidy Village group said they too “were delighted with the news”.

“This is very important to us,” said secretary Marie O’Sullivan. “Not alone for the times we live in, but also important if we have forms to sign [like passport applications], it is way more convenient to go to Barraduff than have to drive all the way into Killarney.”