Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position in regard to the proposed Thornton Hall Prison plan; the latest estimate available to his Department of the expected cost, including the cost of the site, the provision of infrastructure and ancillary services; the cost of construction and fitting out of the prison; the costs incurred to date; the estimated date for the completion of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21095/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Negotiations are currently underway with a commercial consortium, which was selected following an E.U. tender procedure as the preferred tender for the design, construction, finance and maintenance of the proposed prison facilities at Thornton Hall, North County Dublin. The project includes the construction of the prison facilities along with the ancillary infrastructure including services. The development consent procedure for the development is set out in Part 4 of the Prisons Act 2007. The Notice of Development and Environmental Impact Assessment in respect of the project was published on Friday 29 February 2008. The closing date for receipt of observations or submissions in respect of the Environmental Impact Assessment was 11 April.

A copy of the Notice of Development has been lodged in the Oireachtas library. The publication of the Environmental Impact Assessment afforded all interested parties ample opportunity to make their views known and have them fully considered prior to a decision to proceed with the development. The report of the Rapporteur has been published and the statutory process under which the Oireachtas may grant approval for the development has been initiated.

It is intended, subject to Oireachtas approval for the development and the successful conclusion of the contract negotiations, to commence construction later this year. It is envisaged that the development will take approximately three years to complete.

For commercial and procurement reasons it is not possible to provide details as to the likely costs of the construction and fit out costs. The disclosure of such information is, in any event, not allowed under Department of Finance PPP guidelines. I can, however, confirm the expenditure which has taken place to date on the project. The cost of the site acquisition was €29,900,000. An additional 8.7 acres has also been acquired to provide a dedicated access road to the main site. This was done following representations from the local community which reflected concern in relation to the effect of increased traffic generated by the prison project. In addition to allaying these concerns, the new roadway will provide significant additional benefits both during the construction and operational phases of the project. The cost of this additional land was €1,305,000.

A total of €5,863,895 has been expended to date on preliminary site works including surveys, landscaping, security and maintenance of the property, studies such as archaeological, topographical, etc., and professional fees including legal and specialist technical advice.