THE PROPOSED development of a new Central Mental Hospital (CMH) at Thornton Hall in North Dublin "is a matter for the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health and Children", according to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
He said that "20 acres of the original Thornton Hall site has been excluded from the proposed prison development and has been reserved as a possible site for the construction of a new CMH."
Mr Ahern told a Dáil debate on the proposal to build a prison complex at the North Dublin site that "the resolution on the prison development has no effect one way or the other on the future of the CMH. I understand that no concrete plans have as yet been drawn up for a new CMH on this site and that any such proposal will be subject to the normal requirements to obtain planning permission from the local planning authority."
The Minister, who confirmed that a new Garda station would be provided for the area, also insisted that he was "determined to get the best value for money". A preferred bidder had been selected and negotiations were at an advanced stage, but "if the preferred bidder does not meet the necessary requirements, there are other options that can be pursued".
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan called on the Minister to launch a complete review of the Government's plans for the new Thornton Hall prison and to scrap plans to move the Central Mental Hospital there.
Mr Flanagan also hit out at the proposal to "criminalise the mentally ill by moving the Central Mental Hospital to Thornton Hall. This is despite the likely brain-drain that such a move would precipitate given the reluctance of expert staff to relocate and assessment by economists that it would be more effective to redevelop the Dundrum campus."
Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte described Thornton Hall as a "costly folly on the taxpayer and an unwelcome imposition on a community ill-suited to such a development".
The Government's proposal would effectively authorise "the construction of the largest, most expensive prison in the history of this State at a manifestly unsuitable location".
Mr Rabbitte stressed that "the international trend is away from large-scale prisons. There is little evidence of a more enlightened or imaginative penal policy informing the biggest decision in prison provision since the foundation of the State."
