Plans for Spike Island tourist site - Irish Architectural News

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, has indicated that the plan to turn Spike Island in Cork harbour into a tourist attraction is fully backed by the Department of Justice which owns the site. Heritage campaigners in east Cork have expressed relief at the Government's decision to drop initial plans to build a "super prison" on Spike Island and instead transform it into a tourist attraction comparable to Alcatraz off San Francisco or Port Arthur in Tasmania. In May last year Minister for Justice Michael McDowell announced plans to build a 70 million prison at the Spike Island location which previously housed a prison. He told delegates at the Prison Officers' Association annual conference the new prison would house 450 inmates, replacing the existing facility at Rathmore Road, Cork city. Shortly afterwards, Cobh Tourism chairman Michael Martin spearheaded a campaign to preserve the site, insisting the county had its very own "Devil's Island" on its doorstep.

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