SVP urges State to consider use of old Cork jail as emergency accommodation for homeless

A leading St Vincent de Paul campaigner has urged the State to consider using the soon-to-be-mothballed Cork Prison as emergency accommodation for the homeless.

Brendan Dempsey, former regional president of the charity’s Cork operations, spoke out yesterday as the Irish Prison Service (IPS) prepares for next month’s transfer of about 150 inmates from the jail on Rathmore Rd to the new €42m state-of-the-art jail built nearby.

The operation on February 12 will be the largest single transfer of inmates from one fully operational prison to a newly commissioned prison in the history of the State.