Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 366: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prison spaces and prisoners over the past five years in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28440/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table.

(*refers to the bed capacity on the date of the snapshot of the prison population as reported in the Irish Prison Service Annual Report for that year).

As the Deputy may be aware, there has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population in Ireland over recent years, with dramatic increases in the number of sentenced prisoners, those being committed on remand and a trend towards longer sentences.

The State has been engaged in an ongoing capital programme with almost 600 additional prisoner spaces constructed and brought into use since January 2008. There are also a number of ongoing projects, most notably the construction of a new accommodation block at the Midlands prison. This will provide a potential 300 spaces, a new kitchen and work training/education block, and an extension to the visits/reception areas. It is planned to have the new block fully commissioned by mid 2012. An administrative building on the Dóchas site has also just been converted into a new accommodation block which will provide 70 spaces. These will become operational next month.

In addition, having considered the Report of the Thornton Hall Review Group, the Government has decided in principle to proceed with the construction of new prison facilities at Thornton Hall and also at Kilworth, County Cork, but on a much smaller scale and design to that previously envisaged. The timeframe for the Thornton Hall and Kilworth Prisons projects is currently being discussed in the context of the Government's discussions on capital spending priorities for 2012.