Mr. Noel Waters:

It is the main office in Harcourt Street. It is the Dublin metropolitan area headquarters and the head office of the national support services of the Garda. The OPW is leading the search for a potential new site for these people and all the services. I understand six options are being considered as potential locations, including Thornton Hall. There are issues with regard to its distance from the city but it is certainly being considered. I cannot say at this stage how it will pan out.

The review group has had contact with IDA Ireland, which has indicated it sees the Thornton Hall site as offering significant potential for foreign direct investment. It is fully serviced and is located 1.4 km from a motorway and a couple of minutes away from the M50, so one can see its obvious advantages. I do not believe this is likely to happen in the very near future, but it is a possibility.

We must balance all of this with our requirement in the long term for other prison accommodation and all of the issues that go with this, such as trying to acquire a site and communities objecting to it. We have a site which is ready to go, which is fully serviced with its own access route, and we would be very reluctant to decide not to use it.