Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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180. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of people currently serving custodial sentences in the State, by prison location, the capacity currently occupied in each prison, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3736/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the capacity of each of the Irish prison centres, by location, in tabular form; how many are over capacity; how many people are detained in each facility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3796/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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195. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number people currently detained in female prisons within the Irish prison system, by location, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3802/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 180. 190 and 195 together.

The number of people in custody as of 6 February 2025 is outlined in the table below. The Deputy may wish to note these statistics are published on a daily basis and are available on the Irish Prison Service website (www.irishprisons.ie). This information can be located in the Information Centre – under Statistics & Information – Daily Prisoner Population.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Irish Prison Service must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts. As such, the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time

Where the number of people in custody exceeds the maximum capacity in any prison, officials in the Irish Prison Service make every effort to deal with this through a combination of inter-prison transfers and structured Temporary Release. The legislative basis for temporary release is set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003. I can assure the Deputy that decisions in relation to temporary release are considered on a case by case basis and the safety of the public is paramount when those decisions are made.

The Irish Prison Service is working closely with officials in my Department to take steps to ensure a safe working environment for staff, and the safety and security of people in custody. A Prison Overcrowding Response Group was established in 2023 to develop proposed actions to address the problem of Irish prisons operating above capacity. The Group comprised of representatives from the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service, and the Courts Service. On foot of a report of this Group, in June 2024, 12 actions were approved and work to implement these actions is ongoing.

Further, a Working Group was established in the second half of 2024 to further consider future prison capacity needs and to make recommendations on the numbers and types of prison capacity needed out to 2035. The work of this Group will support and inform future developments regarding prison capacity.

The Deputy will be aware there has been much work done to date to enhance the prison infrastructure, provide additional capacity, and explore alternatives to prison. The Programme for Government 2025 – Securing Ireland’s Future – commits to continued action in this area.

The Government will continue to invest in the prison estate, to ensure that it is modern, fit-for-purpose and has the capacity to accommodate those committed to prison. In recent years, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by more than 200 spaces through the reopening of the Training Unit in Mountjoy, the opening of new male accommodation in Limerick and the new standalone female prison in Limerick.

The Irish Prison Service had a number of capital projects underway in 2024 to deliver over 150 new spaces. By end-2024, the majority of these had finished construction and are starting to come into full operational use. Further spaces will be delivered in 2025 as part of an overall plan out to 2030 to deliver over 1,100 spaces.

The Irish Prison Service has been allocated €525m for 2025, an increase in funding of €79m (18%) compared to 2024. The Irish Prison Service capital budget stands at €53m in 2025, which is an increase of €22.5m on the original allocation for 2024.

The Irish Prison Service aims to recruit 300 recruit prison officers in 2025, in addition to the 271 Prison Officers recruited in 2024, while an additional €6.2 million has been provided to fund 130,000 additional staff hours in our prisons.