Madam, - In a report in your edition of October 4th, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is quoted in relation to his recent request for officials to examine the possibility of the State being given power to acquire future prison sites by compulsory purchase.
He accepts that people's property rights might thereby be affected, and adds: "Are the Irish people willing to have a situation where I just descend on a farm and say I'm taking your farm from you and you and all your neighbours are left with a decision imposed on them from the top?"
I live adjacent to Mr McDowell's proposed new prison at Thornton, Kilsallaghan and this is precisely what he is attempting to do to me and all my neighbours. The only difference in this case is that instead of compulsorily acquiring this land at current market values (which at present the law does not provide for) he has acquired it at about six to eight times the market value by private sale.
His decision has exactly the same effect of imposition on my community, as he has repeatedly announced that he will not be gainsaid on the matter, and has described in Dáil Éireann as "guff" the concerned protests of our community. - Yours, etc,
GRAINNE GAYNOR, Newbarn, Kilsallaghan,Co Dublin.