Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 165: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if the first stage of the development of Thornton Hall Prison is likely to be completed within four years, in view of the need for greater cutbacks in public expenditure; the costs associated with the project to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35666/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The need to urgently modernise the prison estate and replace Mountjoy prison has been well documented both by the Inspector of Prisons and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The prison development at Thornton Hall remains a cornerstone of our prison modernisation programme.

The Government recently approved the procurement of the first phase of the prison accommodation blocks and related support facilities for the prison campus at Thornton Hall. This work will proceed and will result in the provision of 400 cells capable of accommodating up to 700 prisoners. Work has already started on the construction of the access road and the procurement process for the other aspects of the project are being advanced. I cannot give a date for the completion of work on the first phase prison buildings until the tendering process has been completed but realistically speaking, one could not expect the new facility to be available before 2014.

This project has been identified in the Government's Infrastructure Investment Priorities 2010 - 2016 and funding for this project is being made available from within the capital envelope for my Department. The Deputy may also wish to know that the contract for the construction of the access road to serve the prison development was awarded to SIAC Construction Limited in July and construction work is already well underway in relation to this phase of the project. The access road and underpass are scheduled to be completed during February next year.

A procurement competition for the installation of the off-site services to serve the prison development issued to companies on the Irish Prison Service Construction Framework in August. The closing date was 6 October 2010 and the evaluation of the tenders by the Irish Prison Service and its technical advisors has commenced. It is intended to award the contract in respect of the off-site works in November. The work will take approximately eight months to complete.

The procurement process for the design and construction of the perimeter security wall of the prison is already in progress. A pre-qualification competition from which suitably qualified contractors will be invited to tender for the design and construction of the perimeter wall of the prison and related works issued on the E-Tenders web site in August 2010. The closing date for expressions of interest was 28 September 2010. Twenty submissions were received and the evaluation of these submissions is already underway. A panel comprising 5 to 7 contractors will be established from this procurement competition and these contractors will be invited to tender for the construction of the perimeter security wall later this month. Construction of the perimeter security wall is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2011 and will take just under a year to complete. The procurement process for the design and construction of the first phase of prison accommodation blocks will get underway early in 2011.

In relation to expenditure on the project, the total expenditure to end September is €42.46 million. This sum includes the site cost of €29.9 million. The cost of the site was almost completely offset by the sale of surplus prison lands at Shanganagh County Dublin for €29 million. An additional 8.7 acres has also been acquired at a cost of €1.3 million to provide a dedicated access route to the main prison site. This was done following representations from the local community which reflected concern in relation to the potential effect of increased traffic generated by the prison development.

The total expenditure to date also includes €7.3 million expended on professional fees, €2.9 million on site preparation and various surveys, €0.5 million on landscaping and €0.5 million on security. As is the case with all major infrastructure projects a comprehensive set of geological, engineering, archaeological and environmental surveys have been undertaken at the site in order to advance the construction programme for the development. These surveys will enable the Irish Prison Service to accelerate the timeframe for the construction of the first phase of the prison buildings to a maximum of two years.