The Government is on the verge of approving a new prison on Department of Defence lands at Kilworth, in north Cork, to replace the existing Cork Prison, which is badly overcrowded, The Irish Timeshas learned.
Discussions have taken place between Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea to build a new prison on a 300-acre site at Kilworth, and the proposal has received Cabinet approval in principle.
Under the proposal, the new prison, with capacity for 450 prisoners, would be built on a site at Lynch Camp, where the Department of Defence owns some 3,000 acres used by the Southern Brigade for training and other exercises.
It is believed that a site between the Corbett Court pub and the Glocca Maura Inn on the western side of the N8 between Fermoy and Mitchelstown has been identified as the most suitable location at the camp, with the remaining lands continuing to be used by the Army.
The new prison would cover some 300 acres and would incorporate a number of playing pitches as well as detention blocks, and is most likely to be built under a public-private partnership arrangement similar to that being used to build Thornton Hall in Dublin.
The new prison would replace the existing Cork Prison at Rathmore Road, built in 1800 as a British military prison for the nearby Victoria Barracks. It has been used as a civilian prison for counties Cork, Kerry and Waterford for several decades.
The prison was designed for 150 prisoners but in recent years prisoners have had to double up, with most cells designed to house one accommodating two.