The Minister for Justice, Equality & Defence has described the amount of money spent to date on a site for a new prison at Thornton Hall in Co Dublin as 'scandalous'.
Alan Shatter has said that he will be appointing a review group next week to evaluate the possibility of proceeding with the first phase of the Thornton Hall prison.
He said the review would be completed at the very latest by 1 July next.
The Minister said the amount of money spent on the site to date was a real concern and would be an issue in deciding whether the prison should proceed.
He said the amount spent to date was enormous and extraordinary, in particular on the acquisition of the site.
But the Minister said the continuation of the project should not only be down to financial considerations, saying it must make sense in the overall context of developing the Prison Service.
Minister Shatter said one concern is the rate of recidivism in the prison service - he said changes would be made that would specifically target the issue.
