Prison service HQ to be moved to Longford

The site for the new Prison Service Headquarters in Co Longford was unveiled today by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.

The current prison service base is in Clondalkin, west Dublin, near Wheatfield and Cloverhill Prisons. It is being moved to the IDA industrial park on the Ballinlea Road, Longford Town.

A notice will be published in the EU Journalnext month inviting tenders, and building is expected to begin in October. Mr McDowell said it was hoped the new headquarters would be finished by early in 2006.

Around 170 staff will be relocated from Dublin to Longford. The move comes as part of the Government's decentralisation plans.

The minister is currently engaged in a major modernisation of the prison sector. He published the Prison Bill 2004 last month, which contained details of a number of major changes to the way the service is run.

Among Mr McDowell's plans are the privatising of prison escorts.

He also wants to extend the use of cost-cutting technology like CCTV systems and electronic gates from the Midlands Prison and Cloverhill Prison to all other facilities in an effort to cut staff costs.

He has closed four prisons - Spike Island; the Curragh; Shelton Abbey and Loughan House - since January. The latter two prisons will now be used as half-way houses for released inmates.

The Cabinet also approved the closure of Mountjoy Prison last month. The prison service is now seeking a greenfield location on the outskirts of Dublin where a replacement can be built within the next three years.