A £20 million refurbishment programme at Limerick Prison will include the building of a new female prison and will transform the complex, the Minister for Justice said yesterday.
Mr O'Donoghue, who was marking the inauguration of the building programme at the 19th-century prison, said the ending of the scandal of the "revolving door" system was one of the proudest achievements of his ministry.
He had provided more than 1,200 additional prison spaces, and hundreds more were under construction or design. In addition, annual funding for the Probation and Welfare Service had doubled from £12.5 million in 1997.
"We are now also in a position to create the conditions in which rehabilitation, through a coherent process of sentence planning, can take place," he said.
The building programme would include the construction of a new gatelock building, the replacement of the prison's C wing and the renovation of the old E block, providing accommodation for 89 prisoners. The prison's D block was replaced in 1998. A halfway house would also be built.
The new women's prison, part of the second phase of the programme, would house up to 24 prisoners. "It is intended that the accommodation provided will be similar in design and quality to the new female prison at Mountjoy," the Minister said.