Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think we both agreed on the issue of people with short sentences and how we can try to help them be diverted from prisons in the first place. With my other hat is on as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, I am delighted that this week the Government agreed to establish a new prison education task force which will be jointly chaired by me and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, between now and the end of the year. It is an important step to see what we can do to help people when they get out of prison not to reoffend, reduce recidivism rates and try to stop the children of prisoners ending up in prison. People are six or seven times more likely to end up in prison if their parents have been there.

I have spoken to the Prison Officers' Association and addressed its annual conference. I have visited Shelton Abbey, Cloverhill, Wheatfield and Limerick Prison. We have opened the new male part of Limerick prison. The Deputy is correct that the situation in the women's prison in Limerick is not acceptable. There is a new build there. A new woman's prison will make a very big difference and will increase capacity by 22 additional spaces. I can confirm to the Deputy that it is now expected to open in July. Between the training unit in Mountjoy, the male and female accommodation in Limerick, there will be in excess of 200 new spaces. I have also brought forward a plan to provide another 620 places across the four projects I mentioned.

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