A legal challenge against the site chosen for the new Mountjoy Prison was dropped this afternoon.

Thorton Hall, the house on the site of the proposed prison complex on the Meath Dublin border, is set to become a protected structure following a recommendation from Fingal County Council's conservation department.

A FARM that sold for a fraction of the cost of the one purchased by the Government for a prison complex would not have been a suitable alternative, the Department of Justice said yesterday.