Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the officials from the Departments of Justice and Equality and Public Expenditure and Reform. I apologise for not being present for the opening statement, but I read Mr. Waters's in detail. Since he concentrated on Thornton Hall, I will do likewise.

Before I do, however, questions arise across the board regarding moneys that have been spent but for which there is no perceivable benefit to the Department of Justice and Equality or the State. It is taxpayers' money, the use of which we are responsible for reviewing. Questions arise regarding the Bridge Project on Parnell Street and Wolfe Tone Street. The officials might comment on it. The €2 million that was spent seems to have gone down the drain. There is the issue of the €3.3 million for the State pathology office when an alternative is now being sought at the Whitehall Garda station. That seems to have disappeared. There are issues with EU social funding for equality for women, in that projects do not seem to have proceeded. Why did that funding lapse? There are issues with substantial overtime payments and extra payments. There are major issues of non-compliance, in that the level doubled between 2013 and 2014. Claims against the State also doubled in that time.

The greatest issue is Thornton Hall, where €50.6 million of State funding has not produced anything of what was sought. The site was purchased at an exorbitant price of €32 million and approximately €20 million was spent on development because it was a backwoods area in the middle of nowhere and there needed to be roads, access points and so on. The site is lying idle. This has been the case since the original decision in 2001 to search for a site until 2010 when the Department suddenly decided that it could rectify many of the issues that had caused it to purchase the site in the first place, for example, the provision of in-cell sanitation and so on at a capital cost of less than €30 million. Work that was estimated to cost at least €525 million was started, yet prisoners' conditions were improved for less than €30 million. The original decision was taken in 2001, but nothing was done about in-cell sanitation until 2010. Is there not something ludicrous about waiting ten years to deal with a problem?

The report's conclusion on this matter seems to be a serious one. It states: "That decision was underpinned by inadequate analysis of the likely costs of developing a new prison, which appear to have been significantly understated, and the costs of addressing the problems at the Mountjoy complex, which appear to have been overstated."

How did all of this happen? Who is responsible for it? Why was it allowed to drag on? A review committee has been sitting for the last 12 months without any terms of reference. It has not reported and we do not know what is going to happen, yet the accounts still have a statement of an historical legacy value of €50.6 million when in reality it is €2.4 million. Surely that is a very serious matter.