Minister Michael McDowell strongly rejects accusation

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has rejected a Government watchdog’s finding that the Department of Justice paid €15 million too much for land in north county Dublin for a new prison.

The Prison Service, which is part of the Department of Justice, paid €30 million for the 150 acres at Thornton Hall, on which a new prison complex will be built to replace Mountjoy.

But the State’s financial watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, found in its annual report last month that the price paid by the Prison Service was “at least twice the market price” for such land.