The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) should investigate the purchase of land to be used for a new prison in north Co Dublin, the Labour Party said today.
Justice spokesman Joe Costello has written to the C&AG about the €29.9 million paid by the State for the site at Thornton Hall near St Margarets, which will be used to build a prison to replace Mountjoy.
"No other farmland in the immediate or general vicinity has been sold for a remotely similar price. While land prices were a major consideration for the committee charged with finding a suitable location for the prison, it somehow ceased to be so when the Thornton Hall site came on the market," Mr Costello said.
He said at nearly €200,000 per acre, the price "represents poor value for taxpayers' money and may not have been conducted in accordance with best possible practice". Agricultural land in the area sells for around €25,000.
"There are serious question marks concerning the manner in which this project has been progressed so far and when the substantial and costly work of prison-building takes place, there is a real danger that Minister [for Justice] McDowell's department will suck the taxpayer into another financial black hole.
He said there should be no further investment until the C&AG investigates. He had previously called for the Taoiseach to intervene and establish an independent inquiry into the purchase.
The Prison Service has already begun assembling a project management team to plan construction of the complex and public tenders have been put out for engineering services and other consultancy work.
The Rolestown St Margaret's Action Group - which is opposed to the development - has expressed concern about the purchase of the site and its suitability.