Thornton Hall - a farm not a prison site!

dublin | environment | press release Thursday August 11, 2005 14:31 by Resident - Rolestown St. Margarets Action Group info at residentssayno dot com

Rural North Dublin Community fights to save their community and environment from unsustainable development.

On January 26th, the Government signed a land deal worth €29.9 million for the proposed relocation of Mountjoy prison to the rural locality of Thornton in Kilsallaghan, North County Dublin.

Plans to build a 'super-prison' on this 150-acre greenland site have been met with strong criticism and concern from many, not least us local residents who had not been consulted in any regard about the proposal or its potential impact.

In the wake of this announcement, a public protest meeting was held in the Coolquay Lodge on January 27th, 2005. At this meeting, residents and many other supporters, political and otherwise, vowed to fight against the Government's proposal.

This meeting led in turn to the establishment of this action group - the Rolestown St. Margaret's Action Group.

The aim of our group is simple and justified:

'Our aim is to develop and protect our community and its environment.'

And that's exactly what we intend to do.

This development is exempt from the normal planning procedures under Section 9 of the planning act. It is not even required to have an EIS carried out.

The Minister for Justice has refused to meet with local residents. The site was submitted and a decision made to purchase it all at one meeting. The information presented at the meeting was flawed and inaccurate. We have serious concerns about the real motives of those involved in this deal.

This site is a working farm - surrounded by other working farms. Fingal County Council have zoned it for agriculture and not suitable for development!

visit our website www.residentssayno.com

the deal to purchase this site is due to conclude on 1st October - there is still time for the government to pull out.