Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Minister's response to my question about a major infrastructural project is a good example of the manner in which the Government treats the House. It shelters behind commercial sensitivity and other protections in order to avoid telling the House what is going on. I do not know anybody who agrees with the Government that a huge prison facility should be constructed on the Dublin-Meath border for an enormous amount of money. Some €42.2 million has already been spent. Did I hear correctly when the Minister said the money spent on professional fees - €7 million to date - and on the design work done under the previous arrangement has fallen and will not be utilised? The construction of this facility is the only major solution that has been proposed to the crisis at Mountjoy Prison. How can the Minister come in here, a year after the project collapsed, and say he cannot give me indicative dates for when the builders will go on site or finish, or when the prison will open? All he has said is that the matter has not yet been considered by the Government.

I do not know if the Government is serious about addressing the potentially explosive situation in our prisons. I refer in particular to the gross overcrowding at Mountjoy Prison. The Minister should put this House in a position to compare what is now being contemplated with what was agreed with the preferred bidder before the collapse of the project a year ago.

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