Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 325: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the prisoner capacity of the proposed Thornton Hall prison; the number of cells within the prison; when he plans to sign the contract with a company (details supplied) for the development of Thornton Hall; the new scheduled date of completion for Thornton Hall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37446/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The new prison development at Thornton Hall, County Dublin is designed to accommodate 1,400 prisoners, based on single cell occupancy over a range of accommodation facilities all enclosed inside a secure perimeter wall. The design has the capacity, for operational flexibility reasons, to accommodate up to 2,200 prisoners in multiple occupancy which is reflected in the design of the cell and the relevant services.

Contract negotiations are currently at an advanced stage with a commercial consortium, which was selected following an E.U. tender procedure, as the preferred tenderer for the design, construction, finance and maintenance of the proposed prison facilities at Thornton Hall as a Public Private Partnership. The construction of the new prison is expected to take three years from contract award. It is not possible at this particular time to give a precise date for contract award as this will obviously be subject to the satisfactory outcome of the current contract negotiations with the preferred tenderer. If for any reason the current negotiations are not successfully concluded there are other tenderers and other options which can still be considered.