Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has announced that he has secured Government approval for the building of 700 prison spaces at the Thornton Hall site in north county Dublin.

The site was acquired under the last government, with the intention to use a Public Private Partnership to build a prison with 1,400 spaces.

However, with changed economic circumstances, Minister Ahern said the Government has decided to use a "traditional procurement process" to build the first two blocks of the prison by 2014. The plan will see 700 prison places in 400 high-grade cells.

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Minister Ahern said: "No cells would have entered into operational service until the entire campus was complete and handed over to the Irish Prison Service.

"This phased approach will allow us to build the prison in stages and allows for an earlier opening of the first cells at Thornton. My aim is to provide new spaces at the earliest date possible. I have instructed Irish Prison Service senior management to proceed to implement this decision in the shortest possible timeframe."

(CD)