The State faces costs of €8.5 million to provide water, sewerage and power services to the proposed site of a new prison in north Co Dublin, which has already cost the Government €29.9 million to buy.
The Department of Justice has said preliminary engineering inspections took place on the 150-acre site at Thornton, along the proposed M2 motorway near Ashbourne, Co Meath. The department says there will be no need for additional road access. The information was provided last month by the department to a parliamentary question in the Dáil from Fine Gael.
Yesterday, FG's justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe claimed the Government had also lost out on the original deal after five acres were omitted from the final 155-acre deal and retained under the ownership of vendor Richard Lynam, according to Freedom of Information records.