Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Prison numbers in our country at this time have hit 5,000. Many of our 14 prisons are overcrowded. We talk about crime here every day, including judges making the wrong decision in respect of crime, but perhaps they make those decisions because there is nowhere to send people. We need places to send people. At this time, there are 469 people without bed spaces in prisons. Limerick's female prison is the most overcrowded prison in the country. We had a site to build a super prison in Thornton Hall. In May, it was announced that 30 acres on that site would be allocated from the Department of Justice to the Department of integration. I have since found out that is not going to happen because there is a problem with the lease. We do not know when it is going to happen.

We need an urgent debate on the location of refugee centres. Community engagement is important. The community has protested at the Thornton Hall site for the past five weeks. If there is an issue with the lease, the Ministers are keeping everybody in the dark which is not good enough. That is not what community engagement is about. If people want community leaders to work with the Department, they have to give us the information. I believe the lease is nowhere near ready to go. I ask for some engagement on that. Arrogance, incompetence and ignorance are the personality traits of this Government. It is simply not good enough. The Minister and Department need to come in here and talk to us about this.