The Front Pages
Today’s Irish Times front page leads with the headline ‘Opposition denounces scaled-down plans for new prison’, in response to the scaled-down plan for a new prison at the Thornton Hall site in North Dublin. The project, which has cost the State €42.4 million, is now to be undergoing a phased approach, whereby the prison will be built in three stages, according to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
Opposition parties have decried such a plan as inadequate and “money wastingâ€, with Fine Gael justice spokesman Alan Shatter claiming that it was “difficult to believe any time-line or financial estimate this Government puts forwardâ€. The project initially began in 2005 but it is believed it will not be until 2014 that the first prison buildings have been completed.
The Irish Independent however, runs with the curious headline ‘Anglo to take control of struggling Arnotts’, as it reports that the State-owned bank is to take control of the struggling department store to pay huge debts of €260m. From this morning, Anglo will take effective control of the store, assuring that all of the company’s 950 jobs are safe.
Anglo Irish yesterday declined to verify the authenticity of the Independent’s claims, citing ‘client confidentiality’. The Dublin department store originally opened in 1843.
