Residents vow to take no prisoners
RICHARD LYNAM is not the most popular person among his neighbours, friends and even relatives.
The landowner has completed the sale of 150 acres at Thornton in north Co Dublin, the proposed site of the State’s new super prison and, adjacent to it, a central mental hospital.
He is now almost €30 million richer, but his neighbours are asking whether the money is worth losing friendships built up over many years.
The land and the surrounding area is zoned as rural and agricultural and there was no chance of that changing for many years. It is good land but worth no more than e6m if sold for agricultural use.
“What’s the difference between €6m and €30m, when you are talking about the quality of people’s lives,” one asked.
Residents living close to where it is proposed to build the facility are appalled. Some believe there is no chance it will be built on the site, others fear that, no matter what, the Government is determined it will happen.
Nessa Shevlin, a campaign leader, is one of those who believes the land is so completely unsuitable that the prison will never be built. The infrastructure - roads, sewage and water - that will be needed even before a brick is laid makes the plan unfeasible, according to campaigners.
The cost of putting the infrastructure in place has been conservatively estimated at over €8m.
A majority on Fingal County Council also oppose the plan and last week councillors designated the 150 acres as an architectural conservation area.
The Government, when building for the security of the State, can ignore normal planning procedures. However, the councillors have signalled their non-cooperation with the plan.
While the row over Thornton rumbles on, preliminary planning work on building and infrastructure has already begun.
In a revealing letter seen by the Irish Examiner, the Government’s expert adviser on the project, Ronan Webster, outlined his view on how an access road could be delivered.
It would mean compulsory purchase orders of land west of Thornton. The new road, he argues, could tie in with a revised local area plan.
“This would give massive community gain in the form of increased land values as Fingal could re-zone the land for industrial and residential use with the new road in,” Mr Webster said in correspondence with a senior member of the Irish Prison Service.
Residents marching on Leinster House last week like living in their small rural community. They don’t want it rezoned for industrial and residential development.
They received support from the main opposition leaders. A motion calling for the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate the sale before the deal was sealed was not surprisingly defeated.
During the debate, Justice Minister Michael McDowell defended the acquisition of the land. “I am aware that a small number of residents in the area which is very thinly populated given its proximity to the city are conducting a well-funded campaign against the siting of a prison facility in their area,” Minister McDowell told the Dáil.
“I can understand they have concerns about such a development in their back yard.”
The residents were all but accused of NIMBYism.
Mountjoy Prison, built in the middle of the 19th century, is a decrepit dump and in need of replacing. On that point there is little debate, though as the argument raged over Thornton, it was raised repeatedly by Government representatives.
Finding a suitable site to build a new Mountjoy was never going to be easy. Few people, if any, would want a massive prison and mental hospital in their back yard.
As the minister, backed by the Government, launched an attack on RTÉ over its Prime Time investigation into the sale, his defence of the deal became almost shrill.
A press statement released late on Friday was full of words in bold and capital. It ended: “Minister McDowell’s simple challenge to his critics - identify one parcel of land of 150 acres within 10 miles of O’Connell St which is suitable for a major prison campus and which is available for purchase for less than €29m. If you can’t then stop pretending that the site selection committee and its advisor got it wrong.”
Last February, the Irish Prison Service invited submissions from landowners with around 100 acres of available land within 25km of Dublin city centre.
The land was to be accessible from the main public transport and road networks and be available for immediate development.
At the start of the process, it was believed, perhaps naively, that suitable land could be acquired for approximately €7m.
However, it quickly became clear that landowners, knowing this was going to be a site of a new prison, and possibly a mental hospital, were canny enough to demand top prices, way above the agricultural value of the land. Some were asking for up to €500,000 an acre.
A committee was appointed to recommend a site. With a list of 31 to choose from, and a marking system agreed on, they met on a handful of occasions between July 2004 and January this year.
AT THE end of November, the committee decided on 98 acres at Coolquay, not far from Thornton but more accessible to public transport and the road network.
While there were questions that it may be prone to flooding, these appear to have been answered as agreement had been reached and contracts were about to be signed when the seller, Noel Browning, pulled out, officially on December 21.
By December 13, however, the expert adviser to the committee and the Irish Prison Service were “pursuing” Thornton.
While Mr McDowell has insisted first contact was made by an estate agent representing Mr Lynam, the landowner is adamant he was approached by “representatives of the Government who wished to make an offer for our farm”.
The farm was not for sale or on the books of any auctioneer, he said.
“There is no scandal here, there is leadership and vision,” Mr McDowell said during last week’s Dáil debate.
* February 2004 - the Irish Prison Service invites submissions from landowners with approximately 100 acres and within 25km of Dublin city centre.
* July 2004 - a Mountjoy Complex Replacement Committee, made up of officials from the Department of Justice, the Prison Service, the OPW, the Probation Service, the health service and the Governor of St Patrick’s, meets for the first time. They have 31 sites to choose from.
* August 25, 2004 - at a meeting of the committee’s team of expert advisers, the minutes state: “It must be made clear to the committee that if there (sic) seriously want to buy a site, they should really carry out a full site investigation. However, this will take three months to complete and may be outside the time range.”
* August 31, 2004 - a shortlist of three sites at Clonee, Leixlip and Kilcock was decided on. The site at Coolquay had been eliminated due to cost per acre.
* September 16, 2004 - all sites previously eliminated on cost are brought back into play. Approval for price negotiations to begin on three sites, Clonee, Coolquay and Sillogue. Not clear as to what happened to Leixlip and Kilcock.
* November 29, 2004 - Clonee ruled out as owner not open to realistic discussions on cost. Sillogue price had escalated to €500,000 an acre. It was recommended to open negotiations with the owner of Coolquay, Noel Browning. Cost in the region of €31m as opposed to initial price of €40m.
* December 13, 2004 - expert adviser Ronan Webster and Joe Boyle of the Irish Prison Service begin “pursuing the property at Thorntown (sic).”
* December 20, 2004 - land at Thornton is officially offered as a possible site by a Co Meath-based estate agent.
* December 21, 2004 - Noel Browning officially pulls out of the deal to sell Coolquay.
* December 22, 2004 - Richard Lynam, owner of Thornton, expresses an interest in selling the land but points out that it is a major decision that needs to be discussed in depth with his family.
* January 11, 2005 - Mr Webster speaks with Mr Browning who is back in play but wants time to sort out a number of issues with the Revenue Commissioners. He is told there is no point in coming back unless he is ready to sign a deal.
* January 12, 2005 - Mr Lynam and his agent James Dillon, meet with Mr Webster and Mr Boyle at Thornton to “discuss a potential purchase”.
Senator Joe O’Toole, Mr Lynam’s brother-in-law and Mr Webster’s cousin, is present. Mr Webster has been given approval by the OPW to negotiate a price.
* January 13, 2005 - initial terms of agreement are sent to Mr Lynam’s solicitor. The price is €29.9m for a minimum of 150 acres.
* January 14, 2005 - Mr Browning faxes Mr Webster, stating he hopes the Department of Justice is still interested in his property. He hopes to have word back from the Revenue the following week “after which I can decide strategy to take”.
* January 18, 2005 - Five of the seven-member committee meets and hears officially for the first time about the site at Thornton.
At that meeting, the site is marked and it is agreed to recommend its purchase to the minister.
* January 26, 2005 - Justice Minister Michael McDowell announces Cabinet approval for Thornton as the site of the new prison and agreement in principle to transfer the Central Mental Hospital to the same site.
“The site was recommended by an expert committee which reviewed over 30 possible sites,” he said. Mr Lynam writes to his neighbours: “A number of weeks ago we were approached by representatives of the Government who wished to make an offer for our farm.
“We should make it clear that the farm was neither for sale nor on the books of any auctioneer or agent as we had never at any time considered putting it on the market.”
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