Prison service embarks on €400m building project to ease overcrowding
Irish Prison Service
(IPS) has embarked on a €400 million project to increase prison spaces by a third in response to an overcrowding crisis.
The project will involve refurbishing and expanding existing facilities while also building a new facility at
Thornton Hall
in
Dublin
.
The proposed construction would be the most significant expansion of the prison system in State history.
However, sources warned that few funds have been allocated yet and the completion of the project will depend on many factors, including the availability of capital and revisions to the
National Development Plan
.
READ MORE
Irish prisons are currently at 118 per cent capacity, with around 5,500 inmates occupying space designed for 4,600. In response, the Government has committed to constructing 1,500 additional spaces.
The roadmap to providing these spaces is set out in a collection of tendering documents from the IPS, which is seeking to establish a panel of qualified construction firms to handle the project.
The first stage of the project is the expansion of D Wing in Cloverhill, a prison in Dublin mainly used to house inmates on remand. The four-storey expansion will include 'modern cells' with toilets along with disabled access and close-supervision cells. New fences, yards and security infrastructure will also be built.
Under preliminary plans, this will be followed by the construction of new wings at Mountjoy and Midlands Prison. New inmate accommodation will also be built at Cork Prison.
According to tendering documents, contractors may also be asked to undertake 'possible enabling and ancillary works at Thornton Hall' followed by the construction of accommodation buildings there.
The Programme for Government commits to the construction of a new prison at Thornton Hall. The site in county Dublin was first purchased by the Department of Justice in 2005 for €151 million with a view to constructing a large prison there to replace Mountjoy.
[
Bunk beds purchased to deal with prison overcrowding
Opens in new window
]
[
Overcrowding in Irish prisons linked to appointment of new judges, system chief warned
Opens in new window
]
However, these plans were shelved when the recession hit. Last year, it was expected that the site would accommodate up to 1,000 asylum seekers. However, this plan was delayed by a court challenge from local residents. It has also been proposed as a location for social housing.
According to the documents, the prison building project is estimated to cost about €400 million plus VAT over the course of four years.
'It should be noted that this may change in light of economic circumstances, availability of funding and the overall operational needs and requirements of the Irish Prison Service,' the IPS states.
Several other measures have been adopted to reduce prison numbers, including the expansion of temporary release and community service programmes.
The IPS is also consulting the Defence Forces about the possibility of reopening the military prison in the Curragh Camp for civilian purposes. This could provide up to 100 additional spaces.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
an hour ago
- Sunday World
Firm owned by former CAB target paid over €4m by Irish government to house asylum seekers
Former CAB target Bernard Byrne and his brother John Paul alleged to have made €750k from laundering fuel and cash Jim Manfield Jnr, was jailed for for attempting to pervert the course of justice Bernard Byrne's company has been paid more than €4m by the government Bernard Byrne at his Go service station on the Kylemore Road A firm owned by a suspected fuel smuggler and former target of the Criminal Assets Bureau has been paid more than €4 million by the Irish Government to house asylum seekers. Bernard Byrne is the director and owner of Tenzing Ltd, which is listed as receiving funds from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. In 2005, it emerged that Byrne, along with his brother John Paul Byrne, had holdings worth Stg£750,000 in Northern Ireland which was targeted by the UK's Assets Recovery Agency (ARA). The case was referred to the ARA by HM Revenue and Customs in 2004 after a joint investigation with CAB into fuel smuggling and laundering on both sides of the border. Bernard Byrne speaking to Samuel Mansfield In its case in the High Court in Belfast at the time, the ARA alleged that the assets of both brothers were from fuel laundering and smuggling, together with excise fraud and associated money laundering activity. Accounts An interim receiver was appointed over two filling stations in Co Armagh and Co Down, a house in Newry, an apartment in Belfast, vehicles, farm machinery and bank accounts. Bernard Byrne's Tenzing Ltd was set up in January 2023 and is registered to an office in Lucan, Co Dublin. That year, the company received payments of €876,000, €553,350 and €366,000 for 'accommodation and/or related costs'. In 2024, the payments from the Department totalled €2,382,000 with €186,000 paid out in the first quarter of 2025, bringing the overall total to €4,363,350. According to a Dail question reply, Tenzing Ltd operated an emergency accommodation centre at Redbank Guesthouse in Skerries, Co Dublin in 2023. Responsibility for the €1.2 billion accommodation budget has been moved to the Department of Justice since May this year. Bernard Byrne's company has been paid more than €4m by the government Bernard Byrne is also a director of other firms involved in the retail fuel business and owns the Go filling station on the Kylemore Road in Ballyfermot, Dublin. The land on which the business is located is owned by Arcount Ltd, which is controlled by Vincent Cosgrave, a Dublin-based businessman. Cosgrave's property portfolio includes the Sheldon Park Hotel across the road from Byrne's filling station business. His daughter, Donna, married Jim Mansfield Jr and the couple's son, Samuel Mansfield, was previously photographed by the Sunday World meeting with Bernard Byrne in 2016. There is no suggestion that Samuel Mansfield is involved in any criminal activity. Footage Jim Mansfield Jr was jailed for 18 months in February 2022 for attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing that CCTV footage be destroyed. The Special Criminal Court acquitted Mansfield of conspiring to have a man kidnapped by a criminal gang but convicted him of directing that the footage be destroyed. Jim Manfield Jnr, was jailed for for attempting to pervert the course of justice It was also heard in a CAB case that Jim Mansfield Jr was previously given €4.5 million of Kinahan cartel cash to launder through property investments. As a result of the 2004 CAB investigation into fuel smuggling, Bernard Byrne's father, John Byrne, paid €1.6 million to the Revenue Commissioners. During a search of John Byrne's home in June 2004, authorities discovered €200,000 in cash and cheques concealed throughout the property. Investigators concluded he had operated a significant grain delivery business for several years. He faced charges over failing to file tax returns at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court in 2007. The court heard at the time Byrne Snr had 157 previous convictions across both Northern Ireland and the Republic, including a Stg£1.3 million fraud conviction in Northern Ireland. Judge Pat McCartan had deferred sentencing to allow Byrne Snr to finalise his tax affairs. The judge described Byrne Snr as someone who had lived 'completely outside the good order of things' and imposed a two-year sentence, suspended on condition of good behaviour. The Sunday World recently reported on two other firms which have received payment for providing accommodation. One firm had been owned by John Gill, the father of alleged gangland figure Jonathan Gill. According to figures published by the Government, Astervale Ltd was paid €414,505 from 2022 until April 2024. Another firm which has been awarded emergency accommodation contracts has links to the Drogheda gang feud. Ben O'Brien resigned in May as a director of Secure Accommodation, which has been paid €10.2 million since it was set up in September 2022. O'Brien (31) was among several people named in evidence in the 2022 CAB case against gang bosses Owen and Brendan Maguire. Bernard Byrne at his Go service station on the Kylemore Road News in 90 Seconds - Monday, August 4th
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Nearly 400 inmates at large in the last decade never returned to prison
Nearly 400 prisoners classified as unlawfully at large over the last decade did not return to custody. It includes 126 people granted temporary release from Irish prisons last year. In total, some 4,178 people were recorded as unlawfully at large between 2015 and 2024. Some 3,815 individuals were returned to custody. This means 363 individuals recorded as unlawfully at large were not brought back to prison. It includes 15 outstanding inmates from 2015. Of 702 people recorded as unlawfully at large in 2024, some 126 did not return to custody, the data shows. The figures were given to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín following a parliamentary question to justice minister Jim O'Callaghan. Further figures released to Mr Tóibín show that seven people died while unlawfully at large between 2014 and 2025. According to Mr O'Callaghan, a person is deemed unlawfully at large if they have not returned to custody 'before the expiry of their temporary release period or if a condition of their release is breached'. He noted that the 'vast majority' are recorded as unlawfully at large for 'technical breaches whereby they do not return to the prison on their designated date to sign on', adding that 'these numbers are dynamic'. Last year, an average of 506 prisoners were on temporary release each month, according to Irish Prison Service reports. Prisoners can be temporarily released from prison for specified lengths of time for reasons such as for a funeral or family emergency, at Christmas or near the end of a prisoner's sentence. In recent parliamentary questions, Mr O'Callaghan admitted that temporary releases are being used to tackle prison overcrowding. Meanwhile, proximity to buses, rail, and a good road network, along with higher population, has resulted in Mallow and Midleton recording the highest level of crimes in Cork county, according to gardaí. The 'Irish Examiner' is exploring crime data from garda stations in our Cork Crime series in print and online here on Monday and Tuesday, August 4 and 5. Central Statistics Office figures show that Mallow had the highest reported crime level in Co Cork last year. The garda station in the town recorded 792 recorded incidents, including 224 thefts and 135 public order incidents. Midleton was next highest, with 613 in total, again with thefts and public order being the most reported offences.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Nature is worryingly absent from the National Development Plan review
Albert Einstein once said, look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. But even somebody with the cerebral capacity of Einstein would struggle to understand and get their head around the latest National Development Plan. This is a plan which purports to chart the progress of the country over the coming years, but which bizarrely fails to allocate any finance to nature in the middle of, what our current Taoiseach had referred to as, a biodiversity crisis. Low on detail, high on promises was how the Irish Examiner's Mick Clifford Podcast accurately described the NDP. Unfortunately when it comes to nature, it was worse – no detail and not even a promise. The gutting of nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund (ICNF) to finance transport, energy and water infrastructure projects in the National Development Plan is very alarming, deeply disappointing and flies in the face of the Government's previous guarantees on nature restoration. The decision is even more concerning given that the Programme for Government committed that the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund will 'ensure ongoing protection for our environment for future generations', while also committing to the development of Ireland's Nature Restoration Plan which requires ambitious nature restoration at land and at sea under the EU's flagship Nature Restoration Law. However, the National Development Plan announced by the Government this week has allocated nothing to nature, instead taking €3.15 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund for transport, energy and water infrastructure. It appears that the Government is saying one thing but doing the opposite on nature restoration. It has decided to gut Nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund, instead using the budget to fund investment in transport, energy and water infrastructure. The Environmental Pillar has repeatedly criticised the absence of ringfencing for nature within the ICN fund, criticism that has been fully vindicated this week by the Government's shortsightedness. There is now a genuine concern that nature restoration funding is losing out to infrastructure projects that prioritise economic growth over measures to address the biodiversity emergency. It seems like a cynical sleight of hand to use ICN funding for a project that has been talked about for decades in various different forms and which pre-dates the fund. The Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund's purpose is to support State expenditure: where there is a significant deterioration in the economic or fiscal position of the State, and in the years 2026 to 2030, on designated environmental projects. But, while everyone acknowledges that we are living in uncertain times economically, the Government is not proposing to invoke the 'economic deterioration' provision, designed 'to provide for countercyclical capital expenditure in the event of an economic or fiscal downturn' (NTMA), so all the allocated spending for 2026 to 2030 must therefore be for 'designated environmental projects'. Under Section 20 of the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Act 2024, such projects must contribute to the achievement of various national and EU environmental regulations such as on water quality, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, the Birds and Habitats Directives, the National Biodiversity Action Plan and the Wildlife Act. However, the proposed allocation of the €3.15 billion that can be spent before 2030, laid out by Government in the NDP, contains no allocation for nature and looks much more like what the fund would be spent on if the 'economic deterioration' condition was being invoked to ensure 'countercyclical capital expenditure' in infrastructure. This is not an argument against funding for Metrolink. Ireland needs greater investment in public transport – whether it is Metrolink in Dublin, light rail in other major cities, expanded bus routes and active transport infrastructure. But in this case, there is over €100 billion of other money allocated to infrastructure by 2030 under the NDP so that provision clearly does not apply. This is not to mention the billions of euros in Apple back-taxes which Jack Chambers in a budget statement last October said provided the country with one-off revenue that has the capacity to be transformational and address the known challenges that we face in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure. An artist's impression of the MetroLink rail project's Tara Street entrance. The Government has decided to gut Nature from the Infrastructure, Climate & Nature Fund, instead using the budget to fund investment in transport, energy and water infrastructure. File picture And then, there's the €305 million from the sale of the final AIB shares. It is all the more disappointing therefore that the dedicated Climate and Nature Fund is being diverted from its nature focus to further boost infrastructure spending which is not short of other funding. The lack of any funding for nature in the financial allocations for the NDP is even more shocking and worrying given that the State is currently engaging in an extensive consultation process involving farmers, fishers and environmentalists to inform the development of a national Nature Restoration Plan. The financing of that plan remains a key concern for all stakeholders. Ireland's Nature Restoration Plan has to be underpinned by significant investment. The Government has repeatedly told farmers that any nature restoration under the Nature Restoration Law would be funded and voluntary and that the main burden of restoration would take place on public lands. They have clearly been misleading farmers and Irish society as there is no indication that the Government intends to allocate new and additional funding towards nature restoration. And there is no sign that the Government is willing to take the kind of action that is needed to utilise Coillte and Bord Na Mona lands to the extent that is needed to achieve Ireland's legally binding targets. The Environmental Pillar is calling for the ringfencing of a substantial proportion of the Climate and Nature Fund for spending on nature. And we are in the fortunate position of knowing how much and where to invest that money. Unlike the vague and abstract NDP, a detailed financial needs assessment for biodiversity is available. Ireland needs greater investment in public transport – whether it is Metrolink in Dublin, light rail in other major cities, expanded bus routes and active transport infrastructure. File photo: Sasko Lazarov / The National Parks and Wildlife Service tasked UCD with carrying out a Biodiversity Financial Needs Assessment on how much would be required to reach the targets of the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030 and international obligations including the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030. This was delivered in 2021 and updated in 2023 to take account of the draft Nature Restoration Law. The study estimated the expenditure required for nature restoration in Ireland at €463.5m per annum, according to the report Funding Ireland's Biodiversity: A Financial Needs Assessment for Biodiversity in Ireland. And last year, Natural Capital Ireland was commissioned by the Irish Environmental Network to deliver a report on high-level recommendations for funding nature restoration in Ireland. This project brought together a diverse group of subject matter experts from academia, business, environmental NGOs, farming, government departments, and semi-state bodies to workshop high-level recommendations for funding nature restoration. These would be good places for the Government to start if it's serious about nature restoration. Nature is conspicuous by its absence in the National Development Plan. Given that we are at a crucial time in relation to the biodiversity crisis in Ireland, it is inexcusable that no funding was earmarked for nature restoration. Biodiversity supports and underpins our society, whether it is food production or clean air or a stable climate. It is imperative that nature is adequately funded. Ciarán Brennan is communications officer at the Irish Environmental Network
