Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the status of developments at Thornton Hall including final cost projections and expected date of completion; and his views on whether the upgrading of Mountjoy Prison could have been achieved more speedily and at less expense to the Exchequer had works been undertaken on its existing site in conjunction with greater availability and use of more cost-effective alternatives to custody for non-violent lesser offences. [40223/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Negotiations are currently under way with a commercial consortium, which was selected following an EU tender procedure as the preferred bidder for the design, construction, finance and maintenance of the proposed prison facilities at Thornton Hall, North County Dublin.

While these negotiations are at an advanced stage they have not yet been completed to the point that the Project Agreement can be signed. I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that it is anticipated that it will be the first quarter of 2009 before contract award stage will be reached. This timeframe is subject, of course, to the successful completion of the contract negotiations. If, for any reason, these negotiations are not successfully concluded there are other tenderers and other options which can be considered.

The Thornton Hall project is a complex Public Private Partnership Project which involves the construction of more than 30 buildings, including eight prison facilities on the site, a major internal road network, extensive perimeter security and a vast array of security systems both physical and electronic. Whilst it had been hoped to sign a contract with the preferred bidder before now there has been much more extensive public consultation surrounding the publication of the Environmental Impact Assessment and consideration of the development by the Oireachtas.

Pressures on the international financial markets have the potential to impact on all major capital projects. The Irish Prison Service is being advised by the National Development Finance Agency in relation to trends and developments in this area.

It is not appropriate, for commercial and procurement reasons, to provide details as to the likely costs of the construction costs. In particular it would not be in the public interest to give an indication of expected costs before a bid is accepted and a contract finalised. The disclosure of such information is, in any event, not allowed under Department of Finance guidelines applicable to Public Private Partnership.

As regards the refurbishment of Mountjoy, in late 1999 a group was established (the Mountjoy Complex Redevelopment Group) to plan for the development of the complex and custodial regimes in a redeveloped prison.

The Group's second report, which was published in February 2001, contained a number of specific proposals and recommendations for the future development and use of the Mountjoy Complex. The proposed development would have provided a maximum of 723 places in addition to the female prison. An estimate, prepared by a firm of surveyors in June 2001, of the capital cost of construction of the proposed development came to a total of €336m and was estimated to take seven years to complete the development of Mountjoy as envisaged by that Group. One of the major disadvantages of the refurbishment of Mountjoy Prison was that the capacity offered by the redevelopment of the facility fell well short of the future capacity requirements of the Service. A further operational drawback with this option is that the Irish Prison Service would have had to resort to the granting of early release to offenders in order to free up space while the refurbishment work was under way. Following a review by the Prison Authority Interim Board, it was decided that the most advantageous solution is to develop a new prison complex on a greenfield site.

As the Deputy is aware the courts are independent in the exercise of their functions. It is a matter for individual judges, having regard to all the facts of the particular case, to give judgement on the appropriate sanction, be it custodial or non-custodial in any criminal proceedings. I am satisfied that the courts have available a wide range of non-custodial options open to them.