HC Deb 29 May 1902 vol 108 cc905-6
MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if it was with the sanction of the Executive that the Irish Prisons Board recently sent two inspectors to Dundalk to view certain ruins in Crowe Street, formerly a gaol adjoining the courthouse; is he aware that the site thereof is the property of the Louth County Council, who agreed some years ago, without objection from any quarter, to sell the same to the Foresters' Society, and when this sale went off on a question of price, proposed recently to dispose of it to the Roman Catholic Temperance Society; is he aware that the Prisons Board, when the second negotiations arose, stated that the site was required for new judges' rooms, new waiting rooms for female witnesses, new cells for prisoners, and new apartments for caretakers; and will he state whether these are to be built at the county expense or by the Imperial Treasury; and why the necessity for such additional accommodation was not discovered when a portion of this site was sold by the Grand Jury to the Post Office; is he aware that the site now in question has been disused for over fifty years, and, if sold, room will remain for the erection of any buildings suggested by the Prisons Board in the garden space at the rear of the courthouse; and do the Government propose to interfere with the sale by the County Council.

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. WYNDHAM,) Dover

It is true that the Prisons Board recently sent down an inspector to inquire into and report on the existing accommodation for prisoners awaiting trial at all court-houses in assize towns in this district, in which Dundalk is included. The inspector is at present lying so seriously ill that he cannot be questioned as to whether he visited the premises referred to. The premises have been disused since 1854. Various attempts have been made to dispose of them. As far as I am aware the Prisons Board is not interested in the matter, and the Local Government Board is quite ready to consider any application for its consent to the alienation of the property by the County Council. Owing to the illness of the inspector, I cannot give a more detailed reply.

MR. T. M. HEALY

I am quite satisfied, and am much obliged to the right hon. Gentleman.