An additional 55 places will be provided at Limerick Prison by the end of next October at an estimated cost of £3 million.
A contract has been placed with Tom Hayes Ltd, of Killaloe, Co Clare, for the construction of a new wing, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Hugh Coveney, announced yesterday.
The new prisons being built in Limerick, Mountjoy, Castlerea and the new remand prison planned for Wheatfield would provide the bulk of the extra 800 prison places announced by the Government earlier this year, he said.
