The Taoiseach:

In the first instance, the Deputy has acknowledged, to be fair, the enormous increases with respect to court cases, prosecutions and so on and yes, that does have an impact on the prison population. That is why the Minister for justice has sought and received Government approval for a significantly increased allocation in the short term to increase prison capacity because there is overcrowding in our prisons. There will have to be a medium-term programme with regard to prison expansion and a longer-term one as well. It reflects a significant growth in population over the last two decades. It has been very dramatic, certainly in the last 20 years. For the first time ever, the increase in population has meant that the island of Ireland is now above pre-Famine levels in population terms. That is impacting on all services. It may also be impacting in this area. The Deputy is predominantly right; there is a greater throughput so that will impact on the Prison Service. Not all of it necessarily has to, as the Deputy knows. There can be alternatives as well.