Mr. Michael Donnellan:

The numbers in prison rose exponentially between 2006 and 2011. It was absolutely unthinkable in 2010 to close a division of Mountjoy to allow it to be refurbished because the numbers could not have been coped with. As a result the Thornton project was conceived and would have happened, as the Secretary General has said. However, since 2011 we have had one division of Mountjoy closed continuously, and one is still closed today because the numbers of people in prison has dropped by 20% since 2011. This has allowed us to do a whole range of things, not just in Mountjoy but also in Cork. The numbers in Cork have dropped from 330 to 220. In Limerick the numbers have dropped from 330 to 220. The numbers have also dropped in the Dóchas Centre. The drop in prison numbers has allowed us, for the first time in many decades, to address the appalling conditions of slopping out.