Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I am not sure whether Deputy Shatter was being sarcastic, but tree planting is very important to the local community. Substantial consultation took place before the project and one of the conditions specified by the community was that a considerable amount of tree planting would take place to offset the look of and potential noise from the prison.

With regard to the overall cost, many of the projects mentioned by the Deputy - I mentioned earlier the 100 youth diversion projects around the State, including drug treatment centres and so on - are already being funded, although there is always a need for more. Prisons face a difficulty in that they cannot put up a "No vacancies" sign but must accept everybody. People such as the Deputies criticise the conditions in Mountjoy and other prisons, and that is one of the reasons we are rapidly proceeding with the Thornton Hall project. We are planning for the long term.

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