Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I wish to begin with the facts. The Governor of the Dóchas Centre, Kathleen McMahon, notified the director general of the Prison Service on 31 March last of her intention to retire from the Irish Prison Service on 21 May next. Having served over 30 years in the Prison Service, she is entitled to retire on full pension. Ms McMahon has rightly been given credit for the enormous contribution she made to the development of the Dóchas Centre since it opened in 1999. While it is true that Governor McMahon raised a number of issues with the director general in the context of her retirement, he has expressed his disappointment that she did not discuss such matters with him before she notified him of her intention to retire.

As I have informed the Deputy and the House on numerous occasions, there has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population over recent years. This is due primarily to the additional resources provided by the Government to the Garda Síochána, which has resulted in increased numbers of successful prosecutions. In addition, extra court sittings have led to more committals. I can put the increased Garda and court activity in context by mentioning that there are 1,000 more criminals in our prisons than there were in 2006.

There is no easy or quick answer to the issue of overcrowding in the prison system. The Prison Service must accept all committals made by the courts. It cannot opt out. The problem of overcrowding is not unique to this country - it is an international one.

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