Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

517. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prison places in each prison in the State; the level of overcrowding in each prison; the measures being taken to address this overcrowding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9352/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Justice, I am acutely aware of capacity restraints in our prisons. I have already engaged with the Irish Prison Service on this issue and the Government has committed to increasing capacity of our prisons by 1,500 over the course of five years. This work has already commenced.

The number of people in custody as of 3 March 2025 is outlined in the table below. 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.

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. 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.

In recent years, in excess of 300 additional spaces have been added across our prisons, with 100 of these added in the last 12 months and 50 to come onstream very soon. These spaces were added through the reopening of the Training Unit in Mountjoy as well as the opening of new male accommodation in Limerick and the new stand-alone female prison in Limerick, and a range of other projects across the prison estate.

An increase of €79m (18%) in Budget 2025 towards a total of €525m in funding to increase prison capacity and support prisoner services. The Irish Prison Service capital budget is €53m in 2025, an increase of €22.5m on the original 2024 allocation, focused on bringing additional prison spaces into the system. The Department of Justice is engaging with the Irish Prison Service to progress plans to bring on stream accommodation to support the target of 1,500 additional prison places as set out under Programme for Government.