State denies wasting funds on stalled jail project

THE consortium seeking to build the Thornton Hall prison in Co Dublin wanted “hundreds of millions of euro” more than the original price submitted, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

On Tuesday, the Prison Service announced that negotiations with the Léargas consortium chosen as preferred bidder for the project had collapsed because the costs were too high.

Speaking in the Dáil on the issue yesterday, Mr Ahern said the state wasn’t going to issue “a blank cheque” to have the prison built. “It is the case that the annual cost of this went up by over 30% since 2007 to date,” he said. “Although most of that was due to the cost of finance, it was not offset by a concurrent reduction in construction costs.

“There is a difference of hundreds of millions of euro between the original price and that which was finally suggested and we did not accept.”

Despite this, both he and Taoiseach Brian Cowen insisted the Government was “fully committed” to building a new prison on the Thornton Hall site, but could not provide a likely completion date. Mr Cowen came in for sustained criticism as the opposition alleged Thornton Hall was another example of Government waste of money.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed the Government had “an inability to plan and finish projects”, saying €60m had been spent on the ill-fated e-voting machines, another €200m on the botched PPARS computer system for the health service and €100m on consultancy fees and associated costs for the Abbotstown national sports campus development.

“With that €360m, the Government could have built a major portion of the national children’s hospital on a greenfield site or 100 schools,” Mr Kenny said. “The spectrum of incompetence and money wastage is incredible.”

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the opposition had been saying from day one that the Thornton Hall project raised serious questions about value for money. Some €41m had already been spent between buying the site and paying professional fees, he said, and another €26m had been paid in 2007 for the purchase of a two-acre site next to Mountjoy Prison in the belief that Mountjoy would be redeveloped as a “commercial village” once Thornton Hall opened.

“The Taoiseach should remember that purchase because, as minister for finance, he approved the payment of the €26m for the two-acre site. It is now locked up,” Mr Gilmore said.

But Mr Cowen dismissed the opposition criticisms and said that, while the project was “unaffordable” at the price being quoted by Léargas, it would ultimately go ahead.

“The Minister for Justice will bring his comprehensive new proposals to Government in a matter of weeks,” Mr Cowen said.