Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

A confirmation Bill to confirm the resolutions passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas is a requirement of section 26 of the Prisons Act 2007. This Act provides that if the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform decides to proceed with the construction of a prison using the consent development process provided for in the 2007 Act, a resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas approving the proposal is required. An Act of the Oireachtas confirming the resolutions is also required to proceed with the development. The legislation before the House provides that confirmation and represents the final stage in the process. Senators will be aware that resolutions providing for the development of the prison were passed in the Dáil on 17 June and in the Seanad on 18 June. The resolutions, which contain all the relevant detail, had first been discussed in this House on 29 May. They were discussed in detail by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights on 4 and 17 June.

The Bill before the House is straightforward. It contains just two sections — section 1 confirms that the resolutions were passed by the Dáil and Seanad and section 2 sets out the Short Title. As I have said, we are dealing with the approval of a major prison development under special procedures set out in the Prisons Act 2007. In many respects, it is a more open, transparent and democratic procedure than the "normal" planning procedure for prison development. Before the 2007 Act was agreed, all prison developments were governed by Part 9 of the 2001 planning and development regulations, under which the Minister is the deciding authority. The new procedure that was introduced by the 2007 Act includes a requirement for an environmental impact assessment and public consultation. The procedure vests final approval in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I wish to speak about the prison development itself. The construction of a new prison is essential if we are to deliver real and substantive improvements in our prison system. Mountjoy Prison is a Victorian structure, built in 1850 for short-term convicts awaiting transportation to Tasmania. Its accommodation is substandard — there is no in-cell sanitation and it is overcrowded. The constrained size of the site restricts the development of prisoner programmes. In the past, Senators have drawn attention to some of the problems facing the prison system. The new development at Thornton Hall is an essential part of the solution to such problems, as it will eliminate the "slopping out" system that exists in Mountjoy, replace that prison's substandard and overcrowded accommodation, provide state-of-the-art prison accommodation and offer facilities for education, training and rehabilitation.

The design of the new prison will yield the maximum rehabilitative benefit, as it involves a collection of institutions. It will maximise the operational benefits associated with having one perimeter wall and a single central stores and maintenance service. Some people have described the prison as a "super-prison". This is simply not accurate. By international standards, it is no more than a medium-size prison. The scale of the individual modules is small. There will be no more than 48 prisoners on any landing in the prison. There will be an emphasis on keeping prisoners in small groups to ensure that the prison environment is safe and well managed at all times. New prisoners will be assessed on their committal to determine the level of risk they pose and the most appropriate regime for managing their future integration into society. The most dangerous and violent prisoners will be assigned to high security facilities, while those who pose less risk will benefit from a lower security regime. As they progress, prisoners will move to step-down facilities in a more appropriate prison regime. The modular design of the new development will allow ringleaders and rival gang members to be easily segregated. This is essential to lower the potential for inter-prisoner violence.

The physical layout of the new prison means we will be able to provide a much safer and more secure environment than exists at Mountjoy Prison. The structure of that prison has led to difficulties in introducing mobile phone blocking systems there. The location of Mountjoy Prison in an urban setting and on a crowded site makes it difficult to stop illicit materials entering the prison. The design of the new prison will make it much easier to restrict illicit materials entering the prison. The Irish Prison Service is rolling out a drugs policy and strategy. Initiatives under the strategy include the provision of detoxification, methadone maintenance, education programmes, addiction counselling and drug therapy programmes. Under the strategy, existing drug treatment programmes will be expanded and enhanced. Nurses, a psychologist, 24 dedicated addiction counsellors and other staff, including prison officers, will be recruited. In light of these enhanced supports, and the single cell occupancy in the new prison, the prison will provide a much more supportive environment for the rehabilitation of drug addicted prisoners. As all prisoners will have an individual cell, at least for the foreseeable future, there will be a huge increase in the levels of personal safety of individual prisoners.

Although the prison system is an essential part of our social and rehabilitation structures, the location of a new prison is seldom welcomed by local residents. We have listened carefully to the concerns of the local community. We are addressing the concerns in a broad variety of ways. Access to the new prison development will be via a dedicated road running from the old N2 main road. The construction of this access road will be prioritised. Extensive car parking and visitor facilities will be provided. A dedicated bus service will also be provided. The construction of the sections of the boundary wall nearest to local residents will be prioritised to minimise the impact of construction work on them. The use of the R130 road will be restricted. A construction environmental plan is being prepared for the development. Visually treated concrete will be used in the wall to make it less obtrusive. Timber fences of 3 m in height are being erected around the car parks on the west of the site, the car parks are being redesigned and light fixtures in the car parks are being reduced and modified. Planting areas are being widened and increased. There will be increased planting of larger and mature trees and relocation of the wall further back by up to ten metres along portions of the exterior.

These development conditions are a balanced and a considered response to the issues raised during the consultations with the local community and as reported by the rapporteur. My Department and the prison authorities will continue to liaise in a positive way with the local community as the building work progresses.

The rapporteur received 130 submissions, most of which came from the local community. His report identifies the main points raised in the submissions. All the relevant documentation has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas. Great care has been taken to ensure all the correct procedures have been followed and that due regard has been had to the environmental impact assessment and to the results of the public consultation, in particular as set out in the report of the rapporteur. After consideration and the review of expert advice, it was decided the alterations were not material in the sense envisaged by section 24 of the Prisons Act 2007. The changes had very little effect on the overall development but nevertheless are of significant benefit to local residents.

As I have mentioned, there is a range of different facilities in the prison plan. Separated from the male adult prison and from one another, there will be a female facility and a dual purpose block that is reserved on a contingency basis for 16 and 17 year old males. As well as a central administration centre and stores, there are work training, library, health care and gym facilities and playing fields.

In the 1990s because of pressure of numbers, the so-called revolving door mechanism was introduced with many prisoners being given temporary release simply to make room for new committals. By 1996, 20% of the prison population was on temporary release. I am proud to say that Governments of which I have been a member took action so that today this figure is down to a more reasonable 6%.

If Thornton is not built, our prison system will simply not have the capacity to deal with future needs. The capacity of Thornton is based on projected prisoner numbers for the period up to the year 2015. Even though the projections envisage an increase in numbers, they propose that our prison population rate per 100,000 inhabitants will reduce as our overall population increases faster than our prison population.

A final point on numbers, the development is designed for 1,400 prisoners in single cell occupancy. However we must allow for the unforeseen and, after all, Mountjoy Prison has remained in use for more than 150 years. Therefore the cells in the new development are designed to be large enough for double occupancy and the services are designed to cope with up to 2,200 prisoners without any major structural change.

For the purpose of the environmental impact assessment it was necessary to take the most extreme scenario and hence the environmental impact assessment cites a figure of 2,200 prisoners. However, I again emphasise the intention for the foreseeable future is to operate the prison with no more than 1,400 prisoners.

I also want to clearly state that the new development at Thornton is not intended to be a signal that prison is viewed as the only or even the most desirable sanction to be imposed in respect of criminal behaviour. It is the courts that ultimately decide on the numbers committed to prison. The Executive has no direct say in the matter and the Irish Prison Service must accept and implement the decisions of the courts. The majority of persons convicted of criminal offences do not receive a custodial sentence. The courts make liberal use of alternative sanctions to custody. These include fines, probation, compensation orders, supervision orders and community service orders. As a result, when one compares the prison population rate per 100,000 inhabitants, Ireland has one of the lowest rates in Europe and just half that of England and Wales.

The Government's commitment to non-custodial sanctions is evidenced by a 30% increase in the size of the probation service, the establishment of the National Commission on Restorative Justice, the review of the community service scheme and the bringing forward of legislative proposals on fines. The misleading impression is frequently given that our prisons are full of people being imprisoned for non-payment of fines. It is simply not true. For example on 23 May this year, out of more than 3,500 prisoners only seven people were in prison solely for the non payment of fines. We must recognise that the numbers are so small they do not have any real effect on the overall prison population.

Similarly it is simply not true to say that if more prison spaces are built, they will be automatically filled. If one examines the rate of committals to prison since the foundation of the prison service it is clear there is no link between increases and decreases in committals and prison spaces. The rate of committals to prison is determined by the courts which make decisions without regard to prison capacity.

Specific concerns have been raised about the Dóchas Centre. It is a comparatively recent building and very well designed and its success is proof of what the Irish Prison Service can achieve in a modern purpose built prison setting. However, we must recognise that since the opening of Dóchas in 1999 there has been a serious issue with overcrowding and it is now the most overcrowded prison in the State. On 1 May prisoner numbers exceeded bed capacity by 30% which is not sustainable. It would be neither operationally nor economically effective to maintain the Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy and provide for a second women's prison at Thornton. The design at Thornton Hall takes full advantage of all the best lessons we have learnt from the Dóchas Centre and applies them on a larger but still moderate scale. It will have single occupancy domestic style accommodation based around courtyards and will have three separate sections in order that women on remand will be kept separate from sentenced prisoners.

I would also point out that at Thornton, women prisoners will be further away from male prisoners than they are at present in the Mountjoy complex and will be completely segregated from male prisoners. Women constitute a very small proportion of our total prisoner population, less than 4% and I do not envisage any significant rise in that percentage.

The most common situation whereby a person may be detained for immigration reasons is the case of persons refused permission to enter the State or pending deportation and there is a strict limit on the period for which they may be detained. At present such persons are detained in a prison, normally Cloverhill, along with other prisoners. The facilities at Thornton will be such that people detained for immigration control reasons will be accommodated completely separately from remand or sentenced prisoners, in line with best international practice.

At present 16 and 17 year old male prisoners are held in St Patrick's Institution which is part of the Mountjoy complex. Like Mountjoy, this facility has outlived its useful life. The Government is committed to ensuring that persons under the age of 18 are not kept in the same institution as adult prisoners. In March this year the Government approved plans to develop new facilities at Oberstown, Lusk, County Dublin to provide detention facilities for 16 and 17 year olds. If these facilities are not ready in time, rather than leaving 16 and 17 year old prisoners in dilapidated and poorly serviced accommodation in St Patrick's Institution, we will, as a contingency measure, move them temporarily to brand new purpose built accommodation in Thornton. They will be completely isolated from any adult prisoners in a manner which complies with our international obligations.

We are going to provide vastly improved facilities in small scale modules but with the better services and economies of scale associated with clustering a number of institutions on one site. The development at Thornton will radically improve our prisons by doing away with prison overcrowding and sub-standard accommodation. It will significantly increase prisoner safety and will make society safer.