Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

——and the provision of prison places in general. Do we even need to increase the number of prison places, as the Minister is suggesting?

We urgently need a debate about prisons in general. Why are so many young girls imprisoned for theft? I am not trying to demean the effect of such crimes, but 95% of the women in the Dóchas Centre have been convicted of theft. We have also heard of the many people who are in prison, taking up valuable space and costing the State a fortune, for failure to pay fines. There is an urgent need to discuss the issue of prisons.