Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the full costs of providing a women's prison at Thornton Hall; the position regarding the present provisions at Dochas. [22388/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The new female prison forms part of the overall prison development at Thornton Hall and it is not, for practical, commercial and procurement reasons, possible to provide details as to the likely cost of individual components of it.

There are no plans to move away from the basic architectural design principles of the Dochas Centre. The design has proved to be a successful model and the design of the women's prison at Thornton seeks to build on the experience and lessons of the Dochas model, whilst expanding the regime options and fostering the ethos of Dochas, i.e., a domestic scale courtyard development consisting of a number of house units of single occupancy en-suite accommodation. However a major problem with the existing Dochas centre is a lack of capacity — it is currently the most overcrowded prison institution in this jurisdiction.

When the Thornton Hall development is completed the Dochas Centre along with the other facilities on the Mountjoy campus will be closed. It would be neither operationally nor financially viable to maintain the Dochas Centre as a stand alone institution and construct a second female prison in the Dublin area.