Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The stigma this involves is something that cannot be tolerated and must be resisted in the interests of basic common decency and justice.

We must focus on the procurement procedure in this matter. It has been a reckless example of spending in the dark, which is a habit of this Government. First, the Prisons Bill 2005 has not been passed so we do not have a coherent prisons policy. When one considers the poor access to the site and the other serious shortcomings, the cost will be far in excess of that estimated by the Government. Already, six times the market value has been paid for the site.

Following last night's meeting of Fingal County Council, the site now has an architectural conservation order. This means the Government faces a negative equity of €24 million, effectively wasting taxpayers' money without even bothering to be accountable. Instead of the Minister with his courtroom contortions trying to mask his game of poker with taxpayers' money, he might turn his attention not only to the Comptroller and Auditor General but also to the complaint made by Councillor Joe Corr and I on behalf of the Green Party to the EU Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Stavros Dimas. This complaint states clearly, and has been taken seriously by the Commission, that the site has not undergone an environmental impact assessment. Such an assessment should be undertaken if the relevant directive is to be properly transposed. Instead, the site was exempted from planning permission and is similar in this regard to the Corrib pipeline fiasco. The Government is trying to get away with an inadequate planning procedure but it will not succeed.

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