Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

I welcome those from Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School who are in the Gallery. They are a great school and it is great to see them in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Senator Gallagher raises an important issue. It is one of the most pressing issues that is facing me as the Minister for Justice. It relates to what is the overcrowding issue in our prisons. Since I have been made Minister for Justice, I have visited three prisons already. I have been to Cork Prison and Cloverhill Prison. I was in Shelton Abbey open prison on Monday past. As Senator Ryan knows, I am going to Limerick Prison on Monday. It is extremely important that, as Minister, I see what is actually happening in our prisons. Very many of the prisons are dominated by people who are excellent members of staff who are doing their best under difficult circumstances. I am not going to hide the fact we have an overcrowding problem within our prisons. It is my responsibility to try to fix it.

As Senator Gallagher identified, one of the mechanisms by which it can be fixed is through electronic tagging. When one thinks about it, we introduced the capacity for electronic tagging on our Statute Book back as long ago as 1997 in the Bail Act. We also refer to it in the Criminal Justice Act 2006. The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Act 2023 provides for electronic monitoring in certain circumstances. If we have these statutory provisions that state that electronic monitoring can be used, it is pretty surprising we do not have it available to us at this stage. Our neighbouring jurisdiction, Northern Ireland, has tagging. They do not have same resources that we have in this country on a per capita basis, so there is no real reason it has not been introduced to date.

In the next number of months, I intend to put out for public tender the contract to provide tags that can be used within the prison system and our criminal justice system. The benefit of that will be that we will not have to remand as many people in custody prior to their trial because, if they are electronically tagged, we can avoid any difficulty in respect of them absconding. It is a sanction that also can be imposed in respect of those who are convicted to supervise them after they either finish their term of imprisonment or indeed on a term of imprisonment. There are other solutions that are needed as well. I have proposals to try to ensure we get 1,100 new prison spaces in the next 18 months. I will be bringing a memorandum to Government in the near future in respect of that. We need to provide prison spaces in a fairly immediate mechanism. That will require me to try to cut through the red tape and, I hope, avoiding having to go through the public sector spending code. We need to get prison spaces available in the immediate future.

There is also the longer term plan in respect of building a new prison. That is something that will be necessary because of our rising population. However, I am not a person or Minister, and I do not believe we are a country, who thinks we are going to solve our criminal justice issues through the imposition of a greater number of prison sentences. We need to examine alternative options when it comes to sanctions. Prisons should be a place for dangerous people who have committed violent offences. I was in Shelton Abbey and there many individuals in the open prison who are doing extremely well. They are engaged in employment in the prison. They are living productive lives. There is also a sense of rehabilitation there. The function of prison is twofold. It is rehabilitation as well as punishment. We need to examine alternative penalties that can be imposed, such as community sanctions. In the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, I gave the opportunity and hope to be able to put into law an option for more community sanctions.