Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I do not claim there is no problem. I told the Deputy that we are at capacity and that we have developed 1,300 new places in the past ten years in order to address the issue. That compares favourably with Fine Gael's record in Government. When Nora Owen was Minister for Justice, she cancelled the prison building programme. We restarted the programme in 1997 and have since then developed 1,300 new places. We will open a further 400 places between now and the summer. That is the short-term solution, whereas the answer in the long term will be Thornton prison.

The figure for temporary release is in the region of 10% to 11%, which compares favourably with the figures for 1994 at 22.2%, 1995 at 20%, 1996 at 17.9%, and 1997 at 19.2%. I accept that problems exist in Mountjoy and the Dochas Centre. We are opening 400 new places in Castlerea, Portlaoise and Wheatfield prisons. I recently visited Cloverhill and Wheatfield prisons and found the conditions there to greatly exceed a comparable prison that I visited in Italy. When we finish this programme in mid-summer, we will have renewed 40% of the prison estate, thus ensuring our facilities are among the best in the world.

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