The decision to relocate Dublin's Mountjoy prison "does not make sense" and should be reversed, the Green Party said today.
The party's spokesman on justice, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, said the planned location in north Co Dublin is poorly served by public transport. "It is also questionable to put a mental hospital in close proximity to a prison," he added in a statement this morning.
The Government announced yesterday it had bought 150-acre site at Thorntown, Co Dublin, between Ashbourne and Swords at a cost of €29.9 million. The new prison complex is expected to be constructed in 2008. There will be space on the site for a new Central Mental Hospital.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said that it was desirable that psychiatric services for prisoners should be close to them, but the Central Mental Hospital would be separate from the prison. If a new hospital is sited at Thorntown, it will have separate access and a separate address.
But, outlining the disadvantages to the development, Mr Cuffe added: "Mountjoy is close to the courts, to hospitals, to the gardaí, and is easily accessible for those visiting.
"The Dundrum Mental Hospital is also close to facilities including the new Luas line. Institutions should be close to the people they serve, rather than consigned to a rural location."
Mr Cuffe called on Mr McDowell to publish the list of alternative sites, "and to produce an analysis to show that this proposal makes sense either social, economic or environmental grounds. It is bad planning and the decision should be reversed".