Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Senator will note I have deliberately not mentioned TH in my contribution. It should be a name with which local people will be comfortable. All politicians are accused of the NIMBY syndrome but Senator O'Toole's electorate is far beyond Kilsallaghan so it is difficult to accuse him of it. He just wants to walk the bridle paths there in peace for the next several years.

The majority of traffic going to the prison will be from Dublin and the M50. My impression is that the prison will not have an adverse impact on local residents. Liaison with the local community was raised by Senator de Búrca which is a sensible suggestion. In my experience with major developments, local people tend to run scared from developers. In this case, the State is the developer and there should be some way of ensuring constant communication with local residents on the development. Development levies usually assist in developing footpaths, etc. In this case, there should be some way of improving other infrastructural standards in the area.

The perimeter wall will consist of an existing hedgerow, a tree screening band of 20 m in depth, a fence and an internal road and then the wall itself. In any case, the wall will be 15 m to 30 m from the boundary of neighbouring properties. This should provide some solace for local residents. While I appreciate Kilsallaghan is a rural setting, people live quite happily in the lee of the Central Mental Hospital and Mountjoy Prison.