Residents seek reassurances about security following announcement

The independent senator and former president of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions, Mr Joe O'Toole, who lives adjacent to the proposed new prison complex in Thorntown in north Co Dublin, said last night that he wished that the Minister for Justice had never heard of his local community.

Mr O'Toole said the new 150-acre prison site would surround his garden on three sides. He wished that the development had not been earmarked for his locality but said he would now try to influence the plans for the complex.

"I do not like the idea of a prison in my back garden but as a politician I have been critical of existing facilities in prisons and of people who, willy nilly, oppose every development in their own area," he said.

Mr O'Toole did not know anything about the prison plan until it was announced yesterday - he met the Minister last night. He said Mr McDowell had said that prison service officials would meet the local community and seek to allay their fears.

Mr O'Toole said the Minister had accepted concerns expressed by members of the community about a local three-teacher national school located about half-a-mile from the proposed prison site. He said that the Minister had indicated that he would consider rebuilding the school elsewhere.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said last night that it had already contacted the principal of the local school and that it would be in touch today with local residents in the area.

A local resident Ms Monica Clarke said the community was stunned by the announcement. A local councillor Mr Tom Kelleher said that people in the community were "frightened, shocked and concerned about the future".

There is to be a public meeting of residents in the area to discuss the prison plans tonight.