Mr. Noel Waters:

The committee has looked extensively at this issue. The motivation for building in Thornton Hall was that at that time Mountjoy Prison, which was the State's premier prison, was simply not fit for purpose.

It was subject to the most searing criticism by international groups and the European committee for the prevention of torture. Slopping out was endemic in the prison and it was vastly overcrowded. It was an appalling situation.

The decision was taken by the prison's interim board and supported by the then Government that a new prison would be built at Thornton. It would incorporate the entire Mountjoy complex, be on a greenfield site and Mountjoy would be sold off ultimately to pay for the development. The prison would also include facilities for the Central Mental Hospital and, at one stage, the then Forensic Science Laboratory. To pay for the site, the open prison at Shanganagh, surplus to requirements of the Prison Service, was sold. The cost of the site was €29 million and the sale of Shanganagh also made €29 million.

It is a long story; I am giving the potted version of it. Ultimately, due to the economic crash, the prison at Thornton did not proceed. It had become completely unaffordable from what it was set out as. In the meantime, we had to do something in respect of Mountjoy. Significant capital works were carried out there at greatly reduced costs which have turned it into a fit-for-purpose prison, unlike what it was 12 years ago.