Government abandons plans for new prison

[Ringo]

The Government cannot afford to press ahead with controversial plans for a massive prison complex in north Dublin, it was revealed tonight.

Almost €11m has already been spent on consultants fees for the Thornton Hall scheme, billed as the answer to serious overcrowding and replacing the cramped Victorian conditions in Mountjoy.

The Irish Prisons Service (IPS) has broken off long-running talks with the Leargas Consortium, which won a lucrative bidding war to design, build, maintain and finance the huge campus.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who last month warned major state projects could be hit by the recession, said a new, cheaper project was needed.

Read more: "Government abandons plans for new prison | BreakingNews.ie" - http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/g...xzz0G1YYTUX3&A


If they can't afford something this small, surely this must spell the end of Metro North at €5 billion. While we need a new prison & a children's hospital, we don't need this white elephant.

[Macy]

If they can't afford something this small, surely this must spell the end of Metro North at €5 billion. While we need a new prison & a children's hospital, we don't need this white elephant.

Thornton Hall emphasises everything that's wrong with the Government. The Government paid way over the odds, and the problems of infrastructure remain. People go on about the public sector pay bill, but it's solo runs by Ministers that are the real cause of waste and inefficiency.

tbh I don't know enough about Metro North to comment that much, bar to say that recession is exactly the time to be investing in infrastructure. If O'Leary is dead set against it, it must have some merit.

I'd be delighted if the Children's Hospital has to be scrapped in the short term, as the proposed site is a joke and a decision based on cronyism rather than the realities of the people that have to use it.

[Ringo]

Thornton Hall emphasises everything that's wrong with the Government. The Government paid way over the odds, and the problems of infrastructure remain. People go on about the public sector pay bill, but it's solo runs by Ministers that are the real cause of waste and inefficiency.

The idea was right & we need more prison spaces. They could build a less expensive prison on the same site.

tbh I don't know enough about Metro North to comment that much, bar to say that recession is exactly the time to be investing in infrastructure. If O'Leary is dead set against it, it must have some merit.

5 Billion euro for one line from the city centre to awords to serve developers land there. At the same time Dublin bus is letting staff go & cutting back on buses & routes. I agree we should spend on infastructure but not on this. Much more projects country wide could be done with this type of money

I'd be delighted if the Children's Hospital has to be scrapped in the short term, as the proposed site is a joke and a decision based on cronyism rather than the realities of the people that have to use it.

I wouldn't say I’m delighted that the hospital is scrapped in the short term. The site might not be ideal, but short-term delays have a way of becoming permanent around here.

[padjoe]

this is just the latest in a long line of let downs. so many projects have been allowed to become an embarrassment. it is now time to put it to the people. you can have opinion polls and whatever but its time vote overall for the performance. remember before last general election there was reportedly going to be a collapse of fianna fail across the board but the end result was that they nearly scored a majority.
no more wasting money, sell off everything we dont need. so much waste of money. the M50 is always being upgraded because it was built for cars of the 80s, then upgraded for 90s and it is due for another upgrade in 5 years i imagine. the M1 will have to be expanded too. i'm sure there are stories of money wastage all over the country.

[OneRedArmy]

The Govt overpaid for the land, that's a sunk cost and can't be gotten back.

Wasn't the construction and operation under a PPP whereby the successful bidder would be responsible for finance and the Govt would pay an annual lease?

Seems exactly the type of capital project that we should go ahead with as not only will it generate construction jobs, unfortunately the demand is way more than the supply in terms of occupants.

[passinginterest]

They've come out and said they hope to have an alternative plan 'within weeks', the vagueness stinks of damage limitation before the elections.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said new plans for a super prison will be brought to Cabinet “within weeks” after talks with a consortium to build the north Dublin facility broke down.

from Irish Times

[pete]

I think a proper Metro would be good but the plans published to date & very poor & badly flawed. It goes without saying that 5 billion is nothing like value for money. The cost is so high they will probably look for developers to pay for stations which would mean picking route to suit any one who can pay for a station.

From what I read the big problem with the Metro is the plans are very basic (an effort to keep headline price down) so I think only includes underground stations for 3 carriages (open to correction on that). It goes without saying that extending those stations in the future would be difficult & expensive. Small trains means low capacity - i think I read it would only be similar to the Luas. Add in the fact that they want to extend to Swords & looks like trains would be full early on in the journey.

[Macy]

Wasn't the construction and operation under a PPP whereby the successful bidder would be responsible for finance and the Govt would pay an annual lease?

PD ideology continues to unravel... The consortium included some of the people/ companies who welched on the Dublin regeneration projects afaik.

They've come out and said they hope to have an alternative plan 'within weeks', the vagueness stinks of damage limitation before the elections

Off topic but in the same vein, the report that the examiner are running on Cork/ Kerry hospital services was schedule to be published on the 9th June. That would've been convenient.

[Bald Student]

If what the government says about costs getting out of control is true, they were correct to cut their losses at 10 million and start again.

Whether what the government says is true, I don't know.