Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2025
124. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice whether he accepts that the State is in breach of its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights owing to current overcrowding levels, and what immediate actions he will take. [21476/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government is acutely aware of capacity restraints in our prisons and has committed to increasing capacity of our prisons by 1,500 under the Programme for Government. This work has already commenced.
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 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.
Since 2022, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by more than 300 new spaces with over 125 delivered in the last 12 months and over 100 additional spaces to be added this year.
The Irish Prison Service also aims to recruit 300 prison officers in 2025, in addition to the 271 prison officers recruited in 2024.
These actions form part of one of the fastest-ever expansions of prison capacity in Ireland.
A Prison Overcrowding Response Group was established in July 2023, composed of officials from the Department of Justice and representatives from relevant agencies. The Group considered measures to address capacity issues in the prison estate. In June 2024, following a report from this Group, a range of actions were agreed and work to implement these is ongoing.
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 Government is also committed to progressing and implementing policies aimed at increasing the use of community sanctions, reducing offending, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and providing effective rehabilitation. Recently the Minister for Justice approved the publication of the Community Service - New Directions Implementation Plan 2025-2027 by the Probation Service, which aims to increase the use and opportunities for Community Service .
The Programme for Government explicitly commits to legislation extending the use of community sanctions and the roll out of the voluntary restorative justice programme.
In addition, the Department of Justice is continuing to progress a series of priority actions under the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024. This recommends reducing the use of short custodial sentences, enhancing the operation of community service by the Probation Service, and exploring how the judiciary can be provided with a greater range of community sanctions.
The Programme for Government also commits to implement electronic tagging for appropriate categories of offender, and work is underway to achieve this with the commencement of a project to examine how electronic monitoring can be brought into use in line with existing legislative provisions.
