The Dublin Government is committed to building a new €400m prison in north Dublin, according to the Justice Minister.

Dermot Ahern's announcement came after talks with a consortium - enlisted to build the Thornton Hall development - collapsed.

He said the Irish Cabinet expected to see new plans for the super prison scheme "within weeks".

The Irish Prison Service broke off negotiations with the Léargas consortium earlier this week.

It deemed the final financial offer brought forward from the consortium as not affordable.

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Despite this, Mr Ahern told RTE that the State was still committed to constructing the project.

He said colleagues would go "back to the market" and seek a new tenders, rather than return to under-bidders.

Thornton Hall was supposed to be built under a Public Private Partnership (PPP), on lands purchased by the government in 2005 for €29m.

An additional €11m has since been spent preparing the area for works.

The Léargas consortium is made up of Michael McNamara Construction, Mercury Engineering, Barclays Private Equity and GSL, a prisons operator.

It was awarded the tender for the PPP scheme almost exactly two years ago.

Leargas would have paid the construction costs and would have provided services once the facility opened.

The consortium has expressed its disappointment at the government's decision.

(PR/BMcC)