Gates to an empty field cost taxpayer €68,000

GATES to an empty field have cost the taxpayer €68,000.

The field is the site of the proposed new detention facility at Oberstown in north Co Dublin for 16 and 17-year-olds. It is the only work done on the site to date and the gates and adjoining wall are the only structures on the field.

However, the project is no longer on the Government’s capital investment programme, although it says it “remains committed to ending the use of St Patrick’s Institution for the detention of 16 and 17-year-old males”.