Government abandons plans for new prison
The Government cannot afford to press ahead with controversial plans for a massive prison complex in north Dublin, it was revealed tonight.
Almost €11m has already been spent on consultants fees for the Thornton Hall scheme, billed as the answer to serious overcrowding and replacing the cramped Victorian conditions in Mountjoy.
The Irish Prisons Service (IPS) has broken off long-running talks with the Leargas Consortium, which won a lucrative bidding war to design, build, maintain and finance the huge campus.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who last month warned major state projects could be hit by the recession, said a new, cheaper project was needed.
“The issue of increasing bed capacity in our prisons will be addressed by the provision of an additional 400 prison spaces this summer, nevertheless the need to replace the Mountjoy prison complex is well documented as is the critical need for additional prison spaces,” the Minister said.
“What is now needed is a new project which reflects the current economic and fiscal realities and protects the taxpayers interests.”
The IPS said lengthy negotiations on the project came to a head in the last few weeks.
IPS officials and advisers said the project was unaffordable at the price quoted by Leargas and based on the increased cost of lending.
“In the current economic circumstances a more affordable solution for the Exchequer is required,” an IPS spokesman said.
The site for Thornton Hall, a 150-acre greenfield plot at Kilsallaghan near Swords, north Dublin was bought in controversial circumstances for €30m in 2005 to replace Mountjoy, which inspectors branded unacceptable and unfit for inmates.
The price per acre was far higher than any other land sales in the area at that time.
The planned jail would have housed 1,400 inmates if prisoners were kept one to a cell. The design would have had the capacity to hold more than one prisoner in most cells, giving a 2,200 maximum occupancy.
Opponents claimed the distance outside the city centre and the relatively remote location would make life difficult for visiting relatives. Others warned the cost would continue to spiral with new roads, water and sewage schemes needed to cater for such a large site.
Plans to relocate the Central Mental Hospital in the same complex also met massive disapproval from carers, psychiatric staff and civil liberties groups.
The jail was designed to be the biggest in Britain and Ireland by a very considerable margin, and one of the biggest in Europe.
Mr Ahern indicated he will bring comprehensive new proposals to Government in a matter of weeks taking into account the economic circumstances and market conditions including more competitive tender prices in the construction industry.
