Minister confirms early plans to use former Cork prison site for new jail expansion

Proposal to extend Cork Prison onto former jail site emerges amid overcrowding concerns and criticism over decade-long vacancy

The former Cork prison closed in 2017. Picture: Larry Cummins

Using the former Cork prison as an extension to the current facility is “at a very early planning stage”, according to the justice minister.

The Government has come under fire for letting the site on Rathmore Road on Cork's northside vacant for almost a decade, with Labour councillor John Maher saying it was a prime piece of State-owned real estate which could have been developed for residential, recreational, or tourism purposes.