Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The Office of Public Works was asked earlier this year to assist in the identification of possible sites for a complex to replace the current prison facilities centred around Mountjoy Prison. The Office of Public Works subsequently made inquiries which included the placing of advertisements in the national press and, arising from this process, approximately 30 potential sites have been submitted for consideration.

In view of the importance of identifying the most appropriate site and in the light of the large number of potential sites, I have decided to establish an expert group, chaired by my Department with input from the Office of Public Works and the Irish Prison Service, to examine the potential sites on the basis of comprehensive and objective criteria and to report back to me. I propose to await the results of the considerations of this group before proceeding further.

This is a priority of mine and I am establishing the group with a view to speeding up the process rather than slowing it down. This project is long overdue and needs to be progressed energetically. The new prison campus holds open the prospect of a much enhanced prison infrastructure for Dublin city and of much better facilities for prisoners, along with better working conditions for prison officers and a much more civilised prison regime.

I look forward to early results from the expert group and to the selection of a site so that the process can begin. It will clearly not be a city centre site because that no longer makes economic sense. Recreational space is needed and the prison needs to be away from places where drugs might be thrown in over walls. It will be outside Dublin and must be accessible to motorway transport. That narrows the field to some extent. We are operating on the basis that the prison campus would need to be extended to between 80 and 100 acres to accommodate the range of institutions and service support facilities required for a modern facility of that kind.

See this speech in context