Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The need to modernise the prison estate and replace Mountjoy Prison has been well documented by both the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The prison development at Thornton Hall remains a cornerstone of our prison modernisation programme.

The Government recently approved the procurement of the first phase of the prison accommodation blocks and related support facilities for the prison campus at Thornton Hall. The first phase will see the provision of 400 cells capable of accommodating up to 700 prisoners. This project has been identified in the Government's Infrastructure Investment Priorities 2010-2016 and funding is being made available from within the capital envelope for my Department.

The Deputy may also wish to know that a contract for the construction of the access road to serve the prison development was awarded to SIAC Construction in July, and construction work is already under way on this phase of the project. The access road and underpass are scheduled to be completed in February of next year.

A procurement competition for the installation of off-site services to serve the prison development issued to companies on the Irish Prison Service construction framework in August. The closing date was 6 October 2010 and evaluation of the tenders by the Irish Prison Service and its technical advisers has commenced. It is intended to award the contract in respect of the off-site works in November. The work will take approximately eight months to complete.

The procurement process for the design and construction of the perimeter security wall of the prison is already in progress. A pre-qualification competition from which suitably qualified contractors will be invited to tender for the design and construction of the perimeter wall of the prison and related works issued on the e-Tenders website in August 2010. The closing date for expressions of interest was 28 September 2010.

Twenty submissions were received and the evaluation of these submissions is already under way. A panel comprising five to seven contractors will be established from this procurement competition and these contractors will be invited to tender for the construction of the wall later this month. Construction of the perimeter security wall is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2011 and will take just under a year to complete. The procurement process for the design and construction of the first phase of prison accommodation blocks will begin early in 2011.

Thus far, a total of €24.46 million has been expended on the project to the end of September 2010. This sum includes the site cost of €29.9 million.

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