Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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439. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for an update on the work of his Department to address overcrowding in prisons. [31748/25]

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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440. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of approved actions following the Prison Overcrowding Response Group’s report that have been successfully implemented to date in 2025. [31749/25]

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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441. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how his Department plans to address the gap between the current plans to increase available prisoner spaces by 1,100 between 2024 and 2030 and the Programme for Government’s commitment to expand capacity by 1,500 spaces. [31750/25]

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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443. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his views on the need for investment in the Irish Prison Services ICT capabilities. [31756/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 439, 440, 441 and 443 together.

I am acutely aware of capacity restraints in our prisons and I am committed to increasing the capacity of our prisons by 1,500 in line with the Programme for Government. This work has already commenced.

The Future Prison Capacity 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. I brought the Report of this Working Group to Cabinet last week. The report outlines recommendations for the long-term capacity of the prison estate, as well as recommendations to address record levels of overcrowding in the prison system.

Since 2022, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by more than 370 new spaces. The IPS has delivered over 159 new prison spaces since the start of 2024, which includes 33 new spaces so far this year, with a further 100 to be added by 2026. This is in response to the urgent need for increased capacity in the short to medium term.

To increase capacity in the longer term, the delivery of 960 spaces in Castlerea, Midlands Wheatfield and Mountjoy prisons will be accelerated by moving straight to the second approval gate of the Infrastructure Guidelines. Subject to the necessary funding for these projects being secured through the Government’s review of the National Development Plan, this measure will speed up delivery timelines by 12 to 18 months.

The Programme for Government commitment to build a new facility at Thornton Hall is under consideration in the context of the review of the NDP.

An increase of €79m (18%) was secured in Budget 2025 towards a total of €525m in funding to increase prison capacity and tackle overcrowding.

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) 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. This includes €4m which has been allocated to the IPS’ capital budget for ICT.

The Irish Prison Service also aims to recruit up to 300 prison officers in 2025, in addition to the 271 prison officers recruited in 2024.

These actions form part of the fastest-ever expansions of prison capacity in Ireland.

A range of actions to address capacity issues in our prisons was also agreed in June 2024 following on from the report of the Prison Overcrowding Response Group and work to implement these actions is ongoing.

Among these actions was the introduction in 2024 of a pilot Structured Temporary Release Scheme for suitable candidates in Limerick Women’s Prison. Recognising the positive impact of the pilot so far, the eligibility criteria for the scheme is now being extended on a phased basis to include more women in the prison.

Another of these actions is to amend legislation to increase the maximum number of hours that can be imposed under a community service order from 240 to 480 hours. The amendment will also require a judge to consider a community service order if a sentence of up to two years is being considered, rather than the current one year requirement. These amendments have been included in the General Scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 which I published on 06 May 2025.

I would also like to advise the Deputy that the action encouraging the use of community service orders rather than the imposition of sentences of 12 months or less, through direct engagement with members of the Judiciary, is ongoing and being led by the Probation Service.

The Programme for Government also commits to implement electronic monitoring for appropriate categories of offender. Work is underway involving representatives from the various agencies, to prepare to operationalise electronic monitoring. This includes consideration of technology, data protection, procurement, implementation, and operating model design. An initial rollout of electronic monitoring is expected later this year following a procurement exercise to select a service provider.