THE IRISH PRISON Service has spent more than €114,000 over the past three years on an empty site bought more than twenty years ago for a proposed ‘super-prison’ that was never built.

The state originally paid a “grossly excessive” €29 million for the Thornton Hall site in 2004 with the most recent valuation putting an estimated price of €6.5 million on the land.

Bills for the site continue to mount, however, with the Irish Prison Service spending around €40,000 a year on its upkeep.

A breakdown of costs between 2022 and 2024 shows expenditure of just over €36,000 on gas network costs.

The Irish Prison Service said that covered payments for maintenance to a “collapsed chamber” on site and was based on instructions given to them by Gas Networks Ireland.

A further €28,000 was paid for electricity supply to ensure power to the main house on the land for security and heating systems.

A sum of €1,599 was spent on a site survey to figure out the boundary of the state’s landholding in North Dublin.

There were €4,832 in water charges and a site valuation report that cost the taxpayer almost €14,000 and found the site was worth less than a quarter of what was paid for it.

Other bills included maintenance costs of around €27,000 “to repair boundary and perimeter security and for planned preventative maintenance.”

There was also a digital security bill of €2,420 for “provision of [a] remote access CCTV system.”

The site was first bought as part of disastrous Department of Justice plans to develop a ‘super-prison’ with the intention of closing down Mountjoy Jail and redeveloping prime lands there.

Thornton Hall lay idle for two decades until the government announced plans for a tented camp for 1,000 international protection applicants last year.

However, that was strongly opposed by local residents and the project was thrown into significant doubt after a High Court challenge.

Asked about the ongoing expenditure, the Irish Prison Service said the Thornton Hall site was fully serviced with significant investment at the time to construct a major access road.

They said a two-year licence agreement had been signed last year for the use of thirty acres of the site for provision of accommodation for international protection applicants.

A spokesman said: “The site remains of strategic interest to the State and the Irish Prison Service has a duty to secure and maintain the site at Thornton Hall.

“The site includes a property which is a ‘Protected Structure’ and which the Prison Service is legally obliged to secure and maintain.”

The spokesman added that a licence agreement has been in place with a local farmer since 2023 for lease of the land which “partially offsets” their ongoing costs.