Results 7,701-7,720 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: However, the Prison Service did it in an open and transparent way.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Clearly, the type of information the Deputies have to hand is coming from some location. They seem prone to criticising people outside this House who are involved in consortiums and tender for projects.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I do not know the type of figures the Deputies are referring to or the discussions involved. All I know, as I said on the private notice question, is that when we made a decision based on the final offer made by the consortium for the whole project, it would have cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions over the 25 years of repayments, and that the figure was 30% more than when the preferred...

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am not saying that.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The Prison Service was using the estate properly. Shanganagh was an outdated prison and did not have the type of prisoner capable of going into it. The sale was good value. More times than not agencies of the State come to the Department of Finance looking for resources but the Department was able to purchase this, not just because it got money from Shanganagh.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: They were able to roll over that money and purchase another site. Obviously, it had to negotiate the best price in the interests of the taxpayer.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: That is what the Department did given the constraints it had, rather than going surreptitiously to buy a site, getting it perhaps for less, and then announcing to the public that it was going to be the site of a prison. It was open and upfront and, because of that, the people who owned the site knew exactly who was buying it. The Deputy is right that I was not involved but the project team...

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The recommendation was this was the best value, given the proximity to Dublin.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte has a thing about Deputy Woods; he even referred to him at his 60th birthday party.

Prison Building Programme. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I thought he had a thing about me.

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 62 and 108 together. The reports referred to are greatly exaggerated. The correct situation is that paramilitary prisoners are located in the maximum security Portlaoise Prison which, in addition to the usual perimeter security, has armed military presence. Subversive prisoners in Portlaoise Prison have a somewhat different regime from other prisoners...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Visitors to republican prisoners are subject to searches similar to other visitors.

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am informed by the Prison Service that the same search regimes will be introduced to all prisons in the near future. The newspaper reports that a particular prisoner in Portlaoise Prison has the use of four cells are a distortion of the facts. He has the same cell as all other prisoners. There are two unoccupied cells on the same landing that are used for craft and education. The reports...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 45 together. There has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population over recent years. It was particularly apparent over the past 12 months during which time the total number in custody increased by 267, a 7% rise in the number in custody. Several reasons are responsible for this increase, in particular the extra resources provided by...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I do not accept we are getting bad value for money. Ireland has one of the lowest percentage of prisoners to population in comparison with most other EU member states. As for the 400 extra spaces, it is obvious the Deputy did not listen to what I said earlier.

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: In the coming weeks 100 new spaces at Castlerea and 150 spaces at Wheatfield will become available. The remaining balance will become available later on. These are new places and I do not accept the allegation that the Government has done little in this respect. We have planned the extra 1,300 prison places over the past ten years with another 400. For the long term, we are examining the...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: First, I was neither privy to nor part of any negotiations and have had no contact with either the Léargas consortium or any other consortia that had bid. While I am unsure of the source of Deputy Rabbitte's figures, and it might be illuminating were he to disclose their origin, from the information I have been given by my staff they are not correct. As I stated, the overall increase was...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Yes I did. However, the Deputy referred to €30 million.

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: That is not the case and I stand over my comments in respect of hundreds of millions of euro because this is a massive project. As I noted previously, its overall scale is such that this will be a prison for 20 or 30 years time and its overall capacity could be 2,200 spaces, doubled up. While the Deputy has referred to it as a super-prison, it comprises a number of prisons within a single...

Prison Accommodation. (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I will revert to the Cabinet within the next fortnight with proposals as to how to revisit the entire issue, provided the same capacity is continued with-----