Justice minister to meet Glen Resource Centre as Cork prison debate continues

The Minister for Justice says he will meet local groups in the area of Cork Prison ahead of the planned extension to the former prison nearby.

It is understood that preparations are already being made for a meeting between Jim O’Callaghan and representatives of a local project at the Glen Resource Centre which provides training for inmates, former prisoners and other groups.

It is understood the meeting is being organised following an approach made to the minister by local Fianna Fáil TD Padraig O’Sullivan.

Deputy O’Sullivan said the aim of the meeting is to possibly expand the training service that is already in place.

Minister O’Callaghan told Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould in the Dáil last week that he would listen to what local people have to say in relation to the plans to develop the former Cork prison on Rathmore Road into an extension to the current Cork prison.

The current facility is currently over-capacity, with the prison system across the country at 114% capacity on Monday.

The development of the former prison into an extension to the new prison has been met with concern by locals, while Cork City Council voted last month to add the old building to the Register of Protected Structures.

However it is expected that process could take up to six months.

Demolition of the former prison is being planned, ahead of development of an extension to house 230 male and 100 female inmates.

Minister O’Callaghan told Deputy Gould last week: “I know that Deputy Pádraig O’Sullivan wants me to meet local groups on what is happening there and I will indeed do that. We do not need to turn this into an issue of crisis or conflict. I will listen to what local people have to say in respect of it and it is not incompatible with ensuring that we get a prison developed.”

He also said: “The fact that it had not been put on the register of protected structures to date is instructive. It is obviously not incompatible for the history of Cork Prison to be preserved while ensuring that we have an extension of the prison.”

One local resident said she wants to meet the minister in her home so he can see how her family life is being impacted by living next door to the current prison.

She claims that the walls of her garden have been used by people to throw drugs into the prison yard, while relatives and friends of inmates regularly turn up at her garden to have conversations with inmates through their cell windows.