Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
578. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to publish the current number of prisoners in each prison, broken down by gender; to outline the plans under the Future Prison Capacity Working Group established in 2024 to increase prison capacity in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73746/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Irish Prison Service has advised that information relating to prison capacity and the numbers of prisoners in custody is collated daily by the Irish Prison Service Statistics Unit and published on its website at Daily Prisoner Population - Irish Prison Service.
The Future Prison Capacity Working Group (FPCWG) was established in July 2024 and published its report on 4 July 2025. The report highlighted that, like other prison systems in Europe, the Irish prison system is facing significant capacity challenges. The report made a number of recommendations about the prison estate, as well as projecting that numbers in prison would continue to grow.
Since 2022, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by 407 new spaces, with 126 delivered in 2024, 70 delivered to date in 2025 with plans to deliver a further 101 spaces by end of 2026.
Reflecting the Government's commitment to increase prison capacity by 1,500, as part of the NDP Review in July 2024, IPS were allocated a record capital investment of €527m from 2026 to 2030. €495m of this total will be invested in building projects.
In the recently published Justice Sector Investment Plan, a number of the major projects and timelines for prison expansion were outlined. This will be the largest ever building programme in the prison estate. The programme will include a new block in Wheatfield, an additional block extension at Midlands prison, an extension to Cork Prison, as well as additional spaces at Castlerea, Mountjoy, Cloverhill, Portlaoise, Limerick and Dóchas. The plans also include commencement of the construction of a new prison at the Thornton site in North County Dublin. This new revised capital plan will deliver on several of the recommendations in the FPCWG report.
In line with the recommendations of the FPCWG, Minister O’Callaghan secured an exemption for six projects (960 prison spaces) to move straight to Approval Gate 2 – Pre Tender Approval of the Infrastructure Guidelines, a measure which is expected to speed up the delivery of these projects by 12 to 18 months.
A master plan for the Thornton site will be developed in 2026, determining its future use as a combined site for use by the IPS, International Protection Accommodation Services and An Garda Síochána.
