Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank Members for their comments. Any criticisms they made were in regard to the prior system which revolved around Mountjoy, a prison built in the 1850s where it is impossible to run a 21st century prison service that is fair to everyone, not just staff, but prisoners and families. It is impossible to run that type of service from Mountjoy prison.

The whole reason for the new prison is to try to relieve some of the pressure in the Dublin area. Part of that will address the issue of dealing with young male offenders who, hopefully, can be located in Wheatfield which has the proper facilities for that age group. In regard to the under 18 age group, it is expected the facilities at Oberstown will be available long before the new Thornton Hall prison will be put in place. It is impossible to run a prison service from a prison such as Mountjoy, which was built so long ago and has been added to, in the context of trying to rehabilitate prisoners, proper security and ensuring that items such as drugs are not thrown over walls and so on. That is one of the reasons for a brand new prison.

Dóchas is probably the most overcrowded centre in the country. A judgment had to be made. It makes no sense from an economic or practical point of view to continue with Dóchas and build a second prison to house the overflow of female prisoners.

I wish to clear up facts in regard to some comments made about the probation service. There has been massive investment in the probation service. During the past two years alone, there has been a 30% increase in staffing in the probation service.

The design of Thornton Hall will take full advantage of all the best lessons that have been learned from the Dóchas centre. It will have single occupancy domestic style accommodation based around courtyards. It will have three separate sections in order that, for example, women on remand can be kept separate from sentenced prisoners. Also at Thornton, women prisoners will be further away from male prisoners than at present in the Mountjoy complex——

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