Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

The Labour Party is pleased to be joint sponsors of this Private Members' motion along with Fine Gael. I compliment the Roadstown-St. Margaret's action group and the Kilsallagh residents heritage association for the work done in compiling information and producing tremendously informative and logical publications. Everyone has benefited from the information they have provided, not that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform appreciated it. He stated on 12 April:

I intend to develop a campus in north county Dublin for the purpose and I intend not to be deflected by people who produce notions of fairy ring forts in north county Dublin or architectural details of interest in city centre Dublin. I will not be deflected by all this guff.

There is much more than guff in this and I think the Minister realises that it was a serious flaw to think of this as merely guff. I am amazed at the terms of the Government amendment as these are such that the Minister should welcome the motion and should welcome a thorough review by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In the first line of the amendment the Minister notes the development of a greenfield site that will provide better long-term value for money and superior facilities. The Minister concludes by noting the acquisition of Thornton, County Dublin for the development of new prison facilities to replace the Mountjoy prison complex. Surely the Minister has nothing to fear from the Comptroller and Auditor General's audit. He should welcome it so why is he opposing this motion? Why does he not thank the Opposition for proposing this so that it can be sorted out for once and for all?

There is a judicial review taking place and the Minister knows how such reviews operate. In the time of his predecessor Brock House, in the Minister's constituency, was proposed as a centre for asylum seekers. Local residents took a judicial review in 2001 and nothing has happened since. The matter has been before the courts for four years. Does the Minister not welcome the opportunity to sort this out so that the matter will not be delayed in the courts or in Europe?

The Minister triumphantly stated on 26 January 2005 that the Government had approved the purchase of a 150 acre site for the construction of a new prison to replace Mountjoy, which would then be sold. He stated that the new prison would accommodate more than 900 prisoners and more than 1,000 prison and support staff. He conveyed the appreciation of his party's Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, who welcomed the opportunity the site presents to further develop plans for a central mental hospital.

The Minister stated that the Government had agreed in principle to the transfer of the central mental hospital to the new site. Every professional, psychiatric and others, know that a prison site is totally unsuitable for a mental hospital. So much for the Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley. The Minister did not mention that the combined value of the prime 38 acre site in Dundrum and the 15 acres in Mountjoy was then estimated at €170 million when it would be sold to developers. Now it is estimated to be worth €250 million. The Minister sold the offices of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform at St. Stephen's Green for €53 million. That Department is now in rented accommodation nearby. The rest of the Progressive Democrats Ministers were also in on the act. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, ordered an audit of all property in her Department as soon as she became Minister one year ago. She is offering every building speculator in the country tax incentives to build private hospitals on public hospital land.

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