14-05-2025
Ireland's forgotten ‘Hell on Earth' Alcatraz WON'T reopen despite Trump's US slammer plot for ‘most ruthless offenders'
A CORK politician has ruled out Ireland's Alcatraz reopening as a prison following Donald Trump's bid to revive the iconic US tourist attraction.
Last week, the
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Spike Island in Cork was once the world's largest jail housing over 2,300 inmates during the famine
Credit: Alamy
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Cork Lord Mayor Councillor Kieran McCarthy said it will not reopen
He said the country's 'most ruthless and violent offenders' will be housed in the long-shuttered slammer just off San Francisco,
Spike Island in
Known as 'Hell on Earth', like Alcatraz, it has become an award-winning attraction.
Local historian and Cork Lord Mayor Councillor Kieran McCarthy said there was no chance the Irish
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He said millions have been poured into transforming the island and Fort Mitchel into a place visited by thousands of visitors annually.
He told the Irish Sun: 'Spike Island is part of a historical trail in Cork Harbour which also includes Fort Camden and Fort Meagher.
'It has been closed as a prison for decades and it now plays an important part in the
He also says he does not believe
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Cllr McCarthy thinks it is an impossible ask, as Alcatraz had been crumbling before it was decommissioned and is now a
He said: 'My gut is that this is a political plot by the President aimed at getting at the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who has been somewhat of a thorn in his side.
'STIRRING THE POT'
'San Francisco is twinned with Cork City and there are good relationships between the two cities.
'I do think Trump is stirring the pot. His plan would cost more than millions and it is something people wouldn't want for the Rock.'
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Spike Island is famously known as Ireland's Alcatraz.
It was the first of four
An enormous fortress arrived in 1804, its 24-acre footprint so large it could fit
Built to defend an empire and repel an all-conquering Napoleon, it was the fort's conversion to a prison in 1847 that drew the eyes of the world and fostered its dark reputation.
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CONDITIONS DETERIORATING
The explosion in crime during the Great Hunger led the prison population to swell to more than 2,300, making it the largest formal prison yet seen in Ireland or
With such severe overcrowding, conditions quickly deteriorated.
More than 1,000 convicts died in the first seven years of operation, each now buried in an unmarked mass grave to the island's east in a forgotten penal tragedy.
No women were held on the island but men and boys as young as 12.
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An especially converted 'children's prison' held up to 100 boys in a former ammunition storehouse, the youngsters sleeping in hammocks suspended from chains in the roof.
It reopened in 1921, holding more than 1,200 republican prisoners as the Irish War of Independence raged.
NOTORIOUS INMATE
The
A final prison operated from 1985 to 2004, cementing the island's legendary status in the penal system.
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Its most notorious inmate was Martin 'The General' Cahill, who was sent out of harm's way when serving time for breaching the peace.
Cork County Council became the owners and, along with tourism interests, developed it into a modern tourism facility with a 100 seater cafe, two gift shops, and interactive units which allow visitors to go back in time and explore the long history of the island.
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Donald Trump plans to reopen Alcatraz
Credit: AP:Associated Press
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Martin 'The General' Cahill was an inmate in the jail
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
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