Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prison spaces available here; the number of spaces required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46511/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that as of 7 December there was 4,031 prison spaces available throughout the prison estate. A review of prisoner population projections is currently being finalised by the Irish Prison Service. The outcome of this review will inform the Irish Prison Service and my Department on matters relevant to the prison estate going forward.

As the Deputy will appreciate the Irish Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts into its custody and does not have the option of refusing committals. It is the case that there has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population over recent years. This situation is particularly apparent over the past 12 months during which time the total number in custody has increased by 379. This represents a 10% rise in the number in custody.

The Irish Prison Service has been engaged in an extensive programme of investment in prisons infrastructure which has involved both the modernisation of the existing estate and the provision of extra prison spaces. Since 1997 in excess of 1,670 new prison spaces have come on stream in the prison system. These include the new prisons in Castlerea, the Midlands, Cloverhill, the Dóchas Centre and new accommodation in Limerick, Portlaoise and Castlerea prisons and at the open centres in Shelton Abbey and Loughan House.

Current projects will see a further 250 prison spaces provided in the short term by means of: a new block in Wheatfield Prison which will accommodate approximately 200 prisoners; the re-opening of the Separation Unit in Mountjoy which will provide an additional 50 spaces and these progressive measures contrast starkly with the failure of the Deputy's Party, when last in Office, to construct prison places.

In addition, work is expected to commence in 2010 on a new accommodation block in the Portlaoise/Midlands prisons complex which will provide 300 prison spaces. Despite this significant investment, it is quite clear that in some of our prisons we are operating in excess of our bed capacity at this time. In the longer term, the Government remains firmly committed to replacing the prisons on the Mountjoy complex with modern prison accommodation at Thornton Hall. Building new prison facilities at Thornton Hall on a green field site will open up new opportunities for the development of structured regime activities that support rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners.

In developing its design concept for Thornton Hall the Irish Prison Service sought and continues to seek to deliver a modern, operationally efficient and cost effective facility which will provide decent living conditions for prisoners with appropriate support programmes including the provision of modern facilities for prison staff. The Irish Prison Service accepts that a number of our prisons are in a fairly poor state and this is being remedied by constructing new facilities. The new facilities will, in addition, offer significant improvements in the areas of work training, education and medical services as well as providing predominantly single cell accommodation with in-cell sanitation facilities. These are major undertakings involving replacement of close to 40% of the entire prison estate. They will take a number of years to complete but it is my intention that they will proceed as quickly as possible.