Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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582. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of vacant properties owned by her Department; and the number of which are houses or residential properties. [43148/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that my Department owns three properties that are currently vacant - a house on the land at Thornton Hall in Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin, the now derelict former Cork Prison site and Westview House in Cork City.

The property in Cork is under the Probation Service and has been largely vacant since 2019 apart from some ad hoc use to conduct remote interviews for international protection.

The old Cork Prison site consists of a number of buildings including prisoner accommodation blocks, some of which date back to the 19th Century, a work and training area and staff mess. The facility closed in 2016 following the transfer of prisoners to a new facility built on a site adjacent to the former prison. The facility is in a very poor physical state and unsuitable for use in its current form. In late 2023, engineering consultants were engaged by Estates Directorate of the Irish Prison Service to carry out a detailed assessment of the old Cork Prison facility and to provide a feasibility report on the site with various options for its use. A report is expected to be completed later this year.

The 160 acre site at Thornton Hall was purchased by the State in January 2005 for a new prison development that did not proceed at that time. A new Working Group has been established to consider future prison capacity needs and to make recommendations on the numbers and types of prison capacity needed out to 2035. This group will also make recommendations on the future use of the site at Thornton Hall. An initial report from the Group is expected in November. The Department of Justice has made the Thornton Hall site available to other agencies while retaining some of the site for any future prison needs.

As the Deputy will be aware, a portion of the Thornton Hall site is currently being developed by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to accommodate people applying for International Protection. More information in relation to this project can be found at the following link - www.gov.ie/en/publication/3c8dc-thornton-hall/.