Mr. Noel Waters:

It was because we were looking at a 150 acre site which would have had a cordon sanitairearound it. This was going to be done on a cost effective basis and prisoners would be maintained there for a lot less than in Mountjoy Prison. The type of prison proposed at Thornton would be of modern standards. It would not be based on the Victorian principles which are now being replaced around the world. It was going to be an entirely new concept in how we deal with prisoners. That was all to be part of a solution to the wider prison issue at the time. I invite my colleague Mr. Michael Donnellan, director general of the Irish Prison Service, who can provide the Deputy with some more detail.