Plans for Cork prison extension on site of former jail still 'at a very early stage'

Plans for a new prison in Cork on the site of the old facility are still “at a very early stage”, the justice minister has said nine months after they were announced.

The Government has come under fire for letting the site on Rathmore Rd remain vacant for almost a decade, with Labour councillor John Maher saying it was a prime piece of State-owned real estate.

The former prison closed in 2016 with the opening of the new jail nearby. Yesterday, a total of 416 inmates were in that prison. It has 304 beds.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan told Cork Fine Gael TD Colm Burke that a proposal to deliver 330 bed spaces in a new facility on the site of the old prison “is still at a very early planning stage”.

“There will be more engagement as part of the planning process,” said Mr O’Callaghan.

Extension

Mr O’Callaghan announced the plans for the prison, which he said will be an extension to the current facility rather than a second prison, in June. He has described them as “at a very early stage” on multiple occasions since July last year.

Mr Maher said there has been no engagement with locals, despite the minister saying in October that this would take place “in due course”.

Mr Burke said Cork Business Association raised concerns last week about properties being left vacant. “Yet, here is the State with a property left vacant. If we want to do something, we should just get on with it,” he said.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said the area is a residential one “with a large prison already in it”, adding that it “shouldn’t have to put up with a second one”.

Doubt

Fine Gael councillor Joe Kavanagh said that locals do not want dangerous individuals released back into their communities early. He cast doubt on if the facility would be suitable as a community building, but said that a detailed publication was needed.

His party colleague, Shane O’Callaghan, said the old prison building was of significant historical importance, adding that a heritage centre would be better placed there.

“I don’t see what the obsession is with building another prison on that particular site,” he said, suggesting a larger prison on a rural site should be built instead.