Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

I thank the Minister for the reply. Overcrowding is a serious issue in all of the prisons and, as the Minister stated, especially in the Dóchas Centre but what has arisen out of this crisis is a shift in the ethos around which that facility was built, namely, the idea of a more open and rehabilitative process. A consequence of the overcrowding is that it has been replaced by a somewhat more punitive regime which is hugely detrimental. The Minister stated that over 85 of the women are serving sentences of one year or more but an analysis of the crimes that led them into that situation would reveal that most of them occurred as a consequence of drug use or abuse, poverty and so on. Unless we tackle those issues building more spaces is the wrong way around that problem. The idea of providing dormitory spaces for women prisoners, given the problems that have already arisen in the prison, is a recipe for disaster. I note the Minister has said the building is built but is there any way we could alter that to have more single unit provisions because it will be a nightmare for the women and the staff?

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