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Officials stand firm over prison plan process

Thursday, 08 May 2008

ANGRY residents opposed to the Thornton Hall super prison development have held another protest outside Fingal County Council’s headquarters.
The protest aimed to highlight an element of the controversial prison plans which residents believe could potentially affect the entire Fingal area.
According to Teresa McDonnell of the Rolestown St Margaret’s Action Group (RSMAG), many people don’t know about the latest development in the super prison saga.
“A report commissioned by the Department of Justice states that the prison will be in keeping with the County Development Plan,” she explained.
“However, if the prison was built under the Development Plan, the plan would first need to undergo a variation to allow for such a building.
“As part of the variation process Fingal would be obliged to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and public consultation on the plans for the area.”
The issue came to light when an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the prison went forward for public consultation recently.
The Department of Justice commissioned the report, which was available for viewing for six weeks.
“We never knew that Fingal’s development plan was the legislation under which the prison would be built,” Ms McDonnell told Northside People.
“According to the current arrangement, the Thornton Hall area is marked agricultural; this would have to change significantly to allow a prison development.”
Local councillor Tom Kellegher (Lab) raised a question on the issue at a recent local area committee meeting.
“We were always under the impression that it was the Department of Justice’s right to build a prison wherever it liked and that this legislation would override any objections to the plans,” he told Northside People.
“Quite frankly, if the prison falls under the County Development Plan it changes everything. One thing’s for sure, this prison cannot be built until it is decided exactly what legislation it falls under.”
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said that the decision to locate the proposed prison development at Thornton was taken by the Minister for Justice “utilising his statutory powers to override the normal planning process”.
“There is consequently no requirement for the council to vary the Fingal Development Plan 2005-2011 to cater for this development,” the spokesperson said.
“Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an instrument for the evaluation of proposed plans and policies, or of proposed variations to plans or policies, in order to improve decision making with regard to such measures.
“As there is no requirement for a variation in this case, the issue of preparing an SEA does not arise. The equivalent process in relation to an individual project is Environmental Impact Assessment, and this process is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the case of the prison development.”
A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service confirmed that permission for the Thornton development is being sought in accordance with Part 4 of the prisons Act 2007.
“Therefore it is the Oireachtas who give development consent for the project and not the local authority,” he told Northside People.
Part 4 of the Prisons Act, 2007 involves: the publication of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); the appointment of a Rapporteur to receive submissions or observations from interested parties; the preparation of a report by the Rapporteur identifying the main issues or other points of interest raised by those who made a submission or observation; and a draft resolution in both Houses of the Oireachtas approving the development.
The spokesperson concluded: “If the draft resolution is approved by the each House of the Oireachtas it will then be confirmed by an Act of the Oireachtas, at which point the development may proceed.”

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