Spike Island ‘could be the new Alcatraz’
Justice Minister Michael McDowell has announced plans to build a €70 million prison for the Munster region on Spike Island, two years after a complex on the same site closed its doors.
The Cobh Tourism Board said this would be a mistake because the island could become a massive tourist attraction like the former prison island of Alcatraz in San Francisco or Robben Island in South Africa.
“It would have huge tourism potential. It’s there and it’s ready to visit.
“We just think that a fantastic opportunity is going to be lost,” said chairman Michael Murphy.
He said there were 14 centuries of military and ecclesiastical heritage on the island, which could be accessed by tourists if a boat service was put in place.
“Cobh gets 100,000 visitors a year. They are all standing on the shore longing to get out there,” he said.
At the annual conference of the Prison Officers’ Association, Mr McDowell said the new prison on Spike Island would cost about €70m and would be open by 2010.
He said it would augment the existing Fort Mitchell detention centre for young offenders based on the island.
A detailed brief has been provided to the Office of Public Works and preliminary draft designs of the new prison complex have been prepared.
But Mr Murphy said the state should consider building the new prison on a Government-owned site near Fermoy in Cork, which would remove the need to build a bridge to Spike Island.
“We think a place where you wouldn’t have to build a bridge would be better suited,” he told RTÉ radio.
Cork Green TD Dan Boyle questioned why Spike Island prison was closed in the first place.
“This was a state of the art prison with in-cell sanitation and an excellent education service,” he said.
“This was a prison that had had several million euro spent in recent years in providing kitchen and canteen facilities that were subsequently stripped and sold.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
