Ms Caron McCaffrey:

We do have capacity in the system at the moment. Our numbers are subject to peaks and troughs, depending on the activity happening within the courts. As I said, we are seeing increases in certain categories of prisoners. We are certainly seeing an increase in the numbers of female prisoners being committed to custody. It has gone from 122 females in custody in January 2017 to 168 in custody in January 2019. This is across two prisons, namely, the Dóchas Centre and a small female prison in Limerick Prison. We are also seeing an increase in the number of prisoners on remand where 579 persons were in custody on average in January 2017, and this increased 21% to 701 people in January 2019. There are some measures under way that will give us additional capacity. We are introducing a step-down unit for female offenders. This is a recommendation of the penal policy review group. Very happily, the Department has-----