John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 263: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the prison population in each of the prisons here; the official capacity of each prison; the number of prisoners currently in prison for debt default; his proposals to introduce a system of community service for this category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18468/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts. On 8 May, 2009, there were 3,934 prisoners in custody as compared to a bed capacity of 3,641. The following table provides a breakdown of the population of each prison/place of detention on that date.

Imprisonment for non-payment of debt was abolished by the Debtors (Ireland) Act 1872. However, refusal to pay a contractual debt may amount to civil contempt of court, for which imprisonment may be imposed. There are no immediate proposals to amend the law in this area although operation of the law is being kept under review in my Department. Moreover, debt enforcement forms part of the work of the Law Reform Commission. Government policy in this area is also reflected in the significant funding made available to the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) which provides assistance to people on low incomes who need help to cope with debt problems. There are 53 independent companies nationwide with over 240 money advice staff operating the service. MABS National Telephone Helpline has operated since October 2007. Many voluntary and statutory bodies such as the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Community Welfare Service, the Credit Union Movement, Citizens Information Centres, Centres for the unemployed and local authorities work closely with the programme.

I can advise the Deputy that the number of persons held in custody for such offences at any one time is a tiny fraction of the overall prisoner population. To illustrate this point, figures relating to 8 May, 2009 indicate that 20, or 0.5 percent, of the numbers in prison custody fell into this category.