The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr. Alan Shatter T.D.,
today published the report of Mr. James Farrelly, the Rapporteur, appointed
under section 23 of the Prisons Act, 2007 for the purposes of receiving
written observations and submissions on the proposed development of a
prison at Rathmore Road, Cork.
The range of issues identified in the Rapporteur’s report which has been
raised by local residents and others have been given detailed
consideration. The Minister has set out his consideration of the points
raised in a separate document which, for completion, is also being
published with the Rapporteur’s report, and both documents are available on
the Department of Justice and Equality's website. The Minister has also had
regard to the Rapporteur's report in drawing up the draft Resolution
providing for development consent for a prison on a portion of the site
used as Cork Prison.
The next stage is consideration by both Houses of the Oireachtas of this
draft resolution. Extensive documentation, required by the Act to inform
Oireachtas members on the issue, has already been laid before both Houses.
Announcing the publication of the Report, Minister Shatter thanked Mr.
Farrelly for his hard work and the timely presentation of his report.
Commenting on the report Minister Shatter said: "Action is urgently
required to address the chronic overcrowding and inadequate conditions in
Cork Prison. The development of a new modern prison will eliminate the
practice of prisoners having to slop out and will provide adequate and
suitable accommodation for all prisoners in accordance with our national
and international obligations. This fit for purpose prison will also
provide the infrastructure necessary for the education and rehabilitation
of prisoners which in turn will enhance public safety."
Giving the background to the publication of the report the Minister said
that "Following the publication of the notice of the publication of an
Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed development on 8th
November, 2012, Mr. Farrelly received 12 submissions from interested
parties during the course of a six week period which concluded on 21st
December, 2012."
As previously stated, the Minister has arranged for the report and his
observations on it to be available on the Department’s website
www.justice.ie.
07 June, 2013
ENDS
Note for Editors
Legislative basis
The Prisons Act, 2007 sets out a special procedure that may be applied for
the purpose of determining whether consent should be granted to larger
prison developments. The purpose of the 2007 Act is to provide a special
mechanism for major prison developments under which an environmental impact
assessment (EIA) meeting EC standards must be prepared and where the Houses
of Oireachtas make the decision whether or not to grant development
consent. To facilitate the Houses of the Oireachtas in their consideration
of the matter, the Minister must, inter alia, lay before the Houses visual
representations of the proposed development, details of its location,
purpose and size, a copy of the EIA, the results of the public consultation
process in the form of the report of the Rapporteur. The Minister must also
submit a draft Resolution which if adopted in effect gives "planning
permission" or consent for the development to proceed and this must be then
confirmed by a Bill.
Section 23 of the Prisons Act, 2007 makes it clear that the purpose of the
report of the Rapporteur is to identify those who have made submissions,
identify the main issues raised and to provide a summary of the submissions
and observations received. There is no provision for the Rapporteur to
comment on the merits or otherwise of submissions and observations made nor
is there any provision for him to make any recommendations.