Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 24 - Justice
Vote 21 - Prisons

9:30 am

Ms Caron McCaffrey:

I will take that. When we constructed the new prison on the site of Cork Prison, we decommissioned the old prison, so we are not maintaining that building. The accommodation in Cork Prison was the worst quality of accommodation we had within the estate before it was replaced. It had a very limited regime of activities. The new prison has been built and the old one has been decommissioned. We have not moved to demolish it because demolition would cost several million euro. It is quite expensive to demolish a building. It remains decommissioned, but obviously it is a site that could potentially be used in the future by the Prison Service.