Thornton Hall - a farm not a prison site!

by resident - RSMAG Thu Aug 11, 2005 14:37 info at residentssayno dot com

Independent inquiry should be established into selection of proposed site for Mountjoy Prison relocation
As EU Commission officially registers Green Party complaint

The Green Party is calling for an independent inquiry into the selection process which chose Thornton Hall in North County Dublin as the preferred site for the relocation of Mountjoy Prison and the Central Mental Hospital.

This follows confirmation from the EU Commission that the Green Party complaint, regarding the exemption of the proposed prison site from the normal planning process, has now been registered. This exemption means that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is currently not required under Irish law as the siting of a prison is in the interest of national security.

The Green Party queried this exemption in its letter of complaint, signed by local Green Party representatives, Cllr. Robert Kelly, Vice Chair of Fingal County Council, Cllr. Joe Corr and Cllr. David Healy as well as Party Leader and Dublin

North TD Trevor Sargent.

Cllr. Robert Kelly said today that, “The Thornton site is in an archeologically sensitive area of Fingal and this should not be ignored by the Minister when considering the construction of a massive detention facility such as the one proposed. We believe that the normal planning process should apply in this case and that therefore an Environmental Impact Assessment should be carried out.”

Cllr. Joe Corr said that, “There are other aspects of the selection process that should be considered too, such as;

§ the fact that Thornton was not in the top thirty of preferred sites

§ it only came to prominence when another landowner pulled out

§ the speed with which the site was selected and the deal was done

§ the inflated cost of the agricultural land per acre for the site. The price normally would not exceed €20,000 per acre - instead the figure of €200,000 per acre was agreed. This has tied the taxpayer into a contract in excess of €29 million whether the facility is established on the site or not

Cllr David Healy added that, “If the Government is interested in openness and transparency, it will establish an inquiry at the earliest opportunity to investigate all aspects of the process that arose at each stage of the selection.”