Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

A prison development announced for the North of Ireland in December 2007 to house 800 inmates will cost £200 million. Regarding the Thornton Hall proposal, no contract has been signed and no information which could help a bidder in any way can be revealed. The public private partnership process requires strict financial assessment of both the project and bidders. The preferred bidder is assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure it has the operational and financial capacity to deliver the project. There is no indication of any problem in this regard. Any effort by Members on the other side of the House to link this consortium with some difficulties with Dublin City Council in another project is not comparing like with like.

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