Over €1bn earmarked for new prisons

ALMOST half of the total spend in the justice and equality sector, €2.82 billion, has been earmarked for the provision of new prisons in the national development plan.

An unprecedented €1.230bn will be spent on capital programmes across the prisons, juvenile detention and probation service.

The Irish Prisons Service will orchestrate a major capital programme involving the replacement of four prisons on the Mountjoy campus.