Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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365. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor each night, by prison location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5419/23]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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366. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he is taking to tackle overcrowding in Irish prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5420/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 365 and 366 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts. As such the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time, and the prison system is, of course, subject to peaks and troughs. 

As the Deputy will also be aware the Government has provided significant capital funding to the Irish Prison Service in order to enhance the existing prison infrastructure. The commissioning of a new male and female prison accommodation in Limerick Prison will provide an additional 90 male spaces and 22 additional female cell spaces. This new male accommodation is now partially open and the female accommodation is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2023.

The Programme for Government 2020 contains a broad range of policies and proposals that represent a coherent approach to enhancing and sustaining a more just and safe society, with a specific commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform. In respect of delivering on this commitment, the Government recently approved the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024. 

This review seeks to find the balance between ensuring that people who commit serious crimes receive a punishment and a period of incarceration proportionate to that crime, while at the same time acknowledging that sometimes community based sanctions are more appropriate in diverting offenders away from future criminal activity. 

In addition to delivering the recommendations of the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform, the need to ensure the continued availability of modern prison facilities with adequate capacity will continue to be central to the work of the Irish Prison Service and will be core to the development of the new Irish Prison Service Capital Plan.

The Deputy may wish to know that the figures for persons in custody are published each day on the IPS website. I am advised by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that on 31 January 2023, there were 101 prisoners sleeping on mattresses across the Irish Prison Service estate.