Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has established a committee to examine the viability of the Thornton Hall prison project.
Holding such a review was an element of the Programme for Government, which also said other alternatives to building the new prison would be explored.
Mr Shatter last week described the amount spent on the North Dublin project to date, some €45 million, as "scandalous".
He has now asked former Supreme Court judge and Law Reform Commission president Catherine McGuinness, Irish Prison Service director general Brian Purcell, his special adviser Tom Cooney and Brendan Murtagh of auditing firm LHM Casey McGrath to examine the project.
“They bring a diverse range of experience to the process at minimum cost to the taxpayer,” Mr Shatter said.
The 140-acre greenfield site at Kilsallaghan where the 2,200-bed prison was to be located was bought by the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government in 2002 for almost €30 million.
Other fees for professional, consultancy and site works have added a further €15 million to the bill.
A further €26 million was paid by the State for a site close to Mountjoy Prison in 2006 when plans for a new “village” development were proposed. It was envisaged that Thornton Hall would replace Mountjoy.
Plans to build a mental hospital on the Thornton Hall site, which would have replaced the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, have since been scrapped.
The prison was to be built under a public-private partnership scheme and was initially due for construction in April 2007.However, in May 2009 the Irish Prison Service and Department of Justice announced negotiations with the preffered bidders, the Leargas consortium, had ended because the prices quoted are too high.
By mid-2010, then minister for justice Dermot Ahern had conceded the plan could only go ahead on a phased basis and Mountjoy would remain open.
Mr Shatter said the money already spent on the project would have to be taken into account as part of the review.
