Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Because we would expect that, given the prevailing economic circumstances and market conditions, that other bidders would be able to give a better reduction on the construction costs. That was not the case in respect of this particular tenderer and that is why ultimately it was not affordable.

On the hundreds of millions and the 30% increase, one cannot build a prison with eight facilities to the highest international standards, do justice to all the issues of maintaining the human rights and dignity of prisoners and make sure they have the appropriate conditions without spending a huge amount of money. That is why I have said on many occasions that this is and was always a long-term project. It is not something that will take care of the prison system requirements for the next two to three years, which is why in the interim we have been extending Wheatfield, Portlaoise and Castlerea prisons. They are the three locations where the 400 prison places have been made available and will come on-stream in the coming months. We were not taking everything for granted and waiting for Thornton Hall to come on-stream in the next year or two, even in 2005 when it was originally purchased. We should be given credit for not only dealing with the short term, but also for the long term and for future generations. Since Mountjoy was built, no Government has thought about this in the long term. We should be given credit for that.

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