20/04/1931:

DUNDALK PRISON (CLOSING) ORDER, 1931.

WHEREAS by Section 30 of the British Statute, entitled "The General Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1877," it is enacted that from and after the 1st day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, the Lord Lieutenant may by Order from time to time close any prison or prisons, provided that in every county there remain one prison, unless the Lord Lieutenant otherwise order for special reasons to be stated in his Order:

AND WHEREAS by the said Section 30 of the British Statute aforesaid it is enacted that whenever the Lord Lieutenant shall have made any such Order as aforesaid, a prison or prisons shall be named in such Order to which prisoners, who, but for such Order, would have been confined in the prison so wholly or in part closed, shall be removed or committed, and in which they shall be kept in custody:

AND WHEREAS by Section 11 of the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922), it is enacted that subject and without prejudice to the specific adaptations made by that Act, every mention or reference contained in any British Statute of or to any Minister, official, department or authority of the Government of the late United Kingdom or of the late British Government in Ireland, including the Lord Lieutenant exercising executive functions, shall in respect of the doing or not doing of any act, matter or thing after the 6th day of December, 1922, be construed and take effect as a mention of or a reference to the Minister, official, department or authority in Saorstát Eireann exercising in Saorstát Eireann functions the same as or corresponding to the functions exercised in respect of the area now comprised in Saorstát Eireann by such Minister, official, department or authority of the Government of the late United Kingdom or the late British Government in Ireland prior to the 6th day of December, 1921:

AND WHEREAS the Minister for Justice is the Minister in Saorstát Eireann exercising in Saorstát Eireann functions the same as or corresponding to the functions exercised in respect of the area now comprised in Saorstát Eireann by the Lord Lieutenant under the said Section 30 of the General Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1877, prior to the 6th day of December, 1921:

AND WHEREAS it is expedient for the special reasons hereinafter mentioned that the prison at Dundalk in the County of Louth should be wholly closed, notwithstanding that upon the closing of the said prison no prison shall remain in the said County:

NOW I, James Fitzgerald-Kenney, Minister for Justice in Saorstát Eireann, in exercise and by virtue of the powers in this behalf vested in the Minister for Justice by Section 30 of the General Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1877, as adapted by Section 11 of the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922), and of every and any other power me in this behalf enabling, do hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may for all purposes be cited as the Dundalk Prison (Closing) Order, 1931.

2. The Interpretation Act, 1889, applies to the interpretation of this Order in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas passed before the 1st day of January, 1924.

3. For the special reasons that it is desirable for the purposes of economy and efficiency in the administration of the prisons system in Saorstát Eireann to reduce the number of prisons, and that sufficient prison accommodation is available elsewhere, the prison at Dundalk in the County of Louth, notwithstanding that it is the only prison in the said County shall on and after the first day of May 1931 be wholly closed and on and from that date shall no longer be used as a prison.

4. All prisoners who shall on the 1st day of May 1931 be confined in the said prison at Dundalk shall be removed to Mountjoy Prison in the City of Dublin and all prisoners who, if this Order had not been made, would on and after the said 1st day of May 1931 have been confined in the said prison at Dundalk shall be committed to and kept in custody in Mountjoy Prison in the City of Dublin.

Given under my Hand and Seal, this 20th day of April, 1931.

(Sd.) JAMES FITZGERALD-KENNEY,

Minister for Justice.