Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is much debate and commentary about the lack of prison spaces in our country. There is no doubt that there is urgent need for prison places and we should get on with it as a matter of urgency because it is so badly needed. With the best will in the world, it will take years to have a new prison or two new prisons as the case may be. With that in mind, it is a very opportune time for us to have a debate on and conversation about community service, how we can expand community service and what we can learn from other jurisdictions about how they handle community service because there is no doubt that it has a role to play. In light of the current revolving door situation in our prisons, it is an apt subject. I ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Justice come to the House so we can have a debate on it. It costs in the region of €85,000 per annum to keep someone incarcerated in our prisons for 12 months. This is a serious amount of money. There are loads of things at which we can look across community service, such as litter picking, taking graffiti off a wall or tidying up our towns. Surely there is a role that could be played with regard to our forests in the wake of the recent storm we had. These are just a number of areas we should be exploring. We also need to explore who supervises these workers when they are out there. I would be grateful if we could organise a debate on the expansion of community service as soon as possible.