Minister for Justice Alan Shatter yesterday announced that construction will begin on a new Garda Divisional Headquarters in Galway.

The site for the building has already been procured in the Renmore area of the city, opposite GMIT, and the work will get underway next year.

The Divisional Headquarters is at present located at Milstreet.

The Minister also confirmed that 26 senior Garda appointments nationally have been approved.

However, it was also revealed last night that a series of garda districts around the country are to be merged to streamline policing and reduce the number of senior officers.

Further civilianisation is also being planned as the force is remodelled under its new slimmed down structures.

A reduction in senior officers will be carried out but will be offset by district mergers. Two mergers, joining Abbeyleix and Portlaoise and combining Ashbourne and Laytown, have already been completed.

But it is expected that a number of smaller districts will be combined in the coming months.

These moves are being carried out in the context of a smaller pool of superintendents.