Gardaí searching for young men who broke into abandoned prison in Cork and shared lead online

Two videos, one just over 20 minutes long and the other almost half an hour long, have been viewed over 100,000 times.

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) said it was aware of “an incident of unlawful entry” at the disused former Cork Prison building on Rathmore Road in the north of the city, and confirmed that the incident had been reported to the Gardaí and that it was assisting them with their investigations.

“The Prison Service takes the security of all facilities within the prison grounds very seriously. However, it does not comment on security or operational matters,” it said in a statement.

The former prison, which was in operation for more than 210 years, was closed in 2016 when a new €45 million prison opened on a 2.4-hectare site nearby.

Since then it has been used as a filming location, including for The Labyrinth in 2017 and Michael Inside in 2017.

The prison break-in involves a group of young men who are touring abandoned buildings across the country.

Their video footage shows them using a telescopic ladder to gain access to what was once one of the state's most secure prisons.

They visit several cells with peeling paint on the walls and find a pair of folded jeans still lying on a bunk bed.

They gain access to a cafeteria, a medical area and a visiting room where the lights are still on – proof that the building's power supply is still working.

In recent years there have been several calls for the government to use the former prison site for housing construction.

But exploratory talks with the Land Development Agency failed to make any progress and the IPS confirmed its intention to keep the building last year.

The IPS said it had commissioned an engineering firm to carry out a detailed assessment of the facility and prepare a feasibility report on the site with various options for its potential short, medium and long-term use.

“It is important to acknowledge that several reports, including that of the Inspector of Prisons and the 2012 Cork Prison Feasibility Study, identified serious deficiencies in the physical conditions of the former prison and significant health and safety concerns which led to the closure of the facility and the construction of a new prison at the time,” it said.

This report is expected shortly.