Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

On 28 September 2006 there were 3,158 persons in prison custody as compared with a bed capacity of 3,383. This represents an occupancy level of 93%. It is my view, supported by these figures, that there is no overcrowding crisis or immediate issue relating to the capacity of the prison system. There is, however, a need to upgrade existing prison accommodation and to plan for the future and I am advancing a number of projects at present to that end.

This Government, which took office in July 1997, inherited a prison system virtually in a state of collapse. In mid-term the outgoing Government in an infamous decision had actually cancelled planned building projects at Castlerea and the women's prison at Mountjoy. The situation was so bad that the revolving door syndrome was in danger of forever discrediting the entire Irish criminal justice process. Furthermore, nothing had been done to even plan to refurbish Mountjoy Prison, which was even then in a deplorable state.

To illustrate the scale of the problem we inherited, the proportion of prisoners on temporary release on 9 December 1996 stood at 552, a figure equating to 20% of the total prison population. This compares with a current figure of 156 persons, or under 5% of the prison population. The actual number of prisoners in custody on 9 December 1996 stood at 2,230 with a bed capacity for 2,251, an occupancy level of 99%. Mountjoy Prison had 640 prisoners within its walls which is a figure 40% higher than the current population of 454.

The Deputy should be aware of the provision of approximately 1,300 new prison spaces in recent years at considerable cost, which has put the Irish Prison Service in a much better position to accommodate prisoners for the duration of their sentences than was the case in the mid-1990s. This programme has resulted in the building of new prisons such as Cloverhill, Castlerea, the Midlands and the new women's prison at Mountjoy alongside additional accommodation in Limerick and Loughan House. Further accommodation is at an advanced stage of construction at Portlaoise Prison, Casterea Prison, Loughan House and Shelton Abbey and new prison estates are being planned for Thornton Hall and Spike Island.

It is a bit much for the Deputy to ask about a current overcrowding problem and a crisis within the prison system when the Government he supported in 1997 left the system in a state. In regard to Fort Mitchel and the Curragh, the number of spaces provided in the lifetime of this Government far outweighs the number of places lost at that point.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

I also refer the Deputy to my response to his colleague, Deputy Durkan, in Question No. 167 answered on 5 May 2004 in which I advised that:

any shortage of prison spaces is not as a direct result of the forced mothballing of the places of detention at Fort Mitchel and the Curragh. Overall these two institutions had a capacity of 204 spaces (102 each). The recent opening of a new wing in Limerick Prison has fully offset the loss of Fort Mitchel. The lost capacity in the case of the Curragh Place of Detention, has been approximately 80% offset by the bringing into operation of previously unused spaces in the Midlands Prison.

It is therefore disingenuous to assert that the closing of these places of detention has in some way contributed to an overcrowding crisis. Suggestions to this effect are completely misleading and irresponsible.

Nevertheless, I accept that a number of our prisons remain in a poor state, particularly Mountjoy and Cork prisons. This is being remedied by constructing new campuses in Dublin and Munster. The new facilities will, in addition, offer significant improvements in the areas of work training, education and medical services as well as providing predominantly single cell accommodation with in-cell sanitation facilities. These are major undertakings involving replacement of close to 40% of the entire prison estate.

The Deputy seems to be suggesting that the €29.9 million paid for the 150 acres at Thornton is €15 million too much. Is this the same Deputy who was reported by The Irish Times in July 2005 as saying that a five acre plot of land in the same townland at Thornton Hall itself but not purchased by the State, is worth €1 million an acre?

I am quite satisfied that the purchase of 150 acres of land at Thornton for approximately €200,000 an acre was an excellent long-term investment for the State and is not out of line with prices being paid by private developers. This view is not only supported by experts employed by the State but also by independent sources. A local auctioneer interviewed by RTE Radio 1 stated that he had disposed of land for between €125,000 and €175,000 an acre and that he doubted if anyone could identify a parcel of 150 acres of land within ten miles of O'Connell Street for less than €30 million. One can still obtain some parcels of land in north county Dublin on the scale envisaged at Thornton for a cheaper price but not land suitable for a prison.

The Comptroller and Auditor General in his 2005 report suggests that if a less open, third party approach was used it might have been possible to acquire suitable land at a lower price. That it his view, however, my Department's Secretary General, the Accounting Officer, had, for good reasons extreme reservations about using a covert and secret third party approach to purchasing land for this project. I shared his reservations in this regard. The Accounting Officer had administrative oversight of the acquisition process throughout, put in place in respect of the purchase of Thornton. He looks forward to further clarifying the matter when he gives evidence before the forthcoming meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on this topic.

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