Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The intention is to build state-of-the-art facilities for adult male and female prisoners as well as other facilities on the new site at Thorntown, County Dublin. However, until a site was acquired, final decisions could not be made on the full range of facilities to be located there. Detailed planning is now under way. It will not be possible to give any reliable estimate of total cost until the design phase has been completed and tenders obtained. I can, however, advise the Deputy that it will be far less than the estimated €400 million it would cost to build a new prison complex on the existing Mountjoy site.

The issue of redeveloping Mountjoy was considered by a group established by my predecessor and chaired by Governor Lonergan. Its report, published in February 2001, contained a number of specific proposals and recommendations for the future development and use of the Mountjoy complex. The proposed development would have provided a maximum of 723 places in addition to the female prison. An estimate prepared by a firm of surveyors on behalf of the OPW in June 2001 of the capital cost of construction of the proposed development came to the then total of €336 million. I have been advised that it is estimated that it would now cost over €400 million — a significant multiple of the cost of the development of a prison on a greenfield site — and take seven years to complete the redevelopment of Mountjoy as envisaged by that group. This level of expenditure on redeveloping Mountjoy cannot be justified.

All the advice I have received to date is that this project, as regards its construction, is suitable for consideration for a PPP venture. Before any PPP arrangements are entered into, however, a formal PPP assessment for the project is required. The latter will address in detail the rationale for procuring the project via PPP, the potential benefits and the optimal PPP structure.

I emphasise that there is no question of privatising the management or staffing of the Prison Service. As indicated previously in the House, I regard that as an option of last resort. In the context of the Prison Officers Association recommending to its members acceptance of the outcome of the negotiations between my Department and their union, that option should no longer feature in respect of future planning.

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