Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 January 2026
454. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of inmates in prisons or places of detention in Ireland that are currently required to sleep on the floor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5155/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Irish Prison Service (IPS) must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the courts and 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 IPS make every effort to deal with this through structured temporary release. 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.
As of January 21, 2026, there was 5,752 people in custody, 600 of whom were on mattresses. The IPS publishes the numbers in custody including those required to sleep on mattresses daily. This can be found at: www.irishprisons.ie/information-centre/statistics-information/2015-daily-prisoner-population/.
I am acutely aware of the capacity constraints in our prisons and the challenges faced by those who work and live in our prisons as a result.
Government is pursuing a dual approach to address the issue of capacity by increasing prison capacity and pursuing further measures to support non-custodial sanctions. Over 440 prison spaces have been constructed since 2022 with the majority of these already in use and the rest due to be in use shortly. On conclusion of the NDP Review in July, there was a record capital investment of €67.9 million agreed for 2026, as part of a total investment of €527 million from 2026 to 2030. €495 million is to be invested in infrastructural projects and in line with the Programme for Government, includes an overall target of delivering over 1,500 spaces by 2031.
This will be the largest ever building programme in the prison estate and will include a large extension to the existing Cork Prison on the site of the old decommissioned Cork Prison, as well as a new block in Wheatfield, an additional block extension at Midlands prison, and additional spaces at Castlerea, Mountjoy, Cloverhill, Portlaoise, Limerick and the Dóchas Centre. The programme will also fund planning and commencement of the construction of a new prison at the Thornton site in North County Dublin.
I am also committed to progressing commitments in the Programme for Government related to the expanded use of community sanctions, which will contribute to reducing prison overcrowding and will improve efforts to rehabilitate offenders. Budget 2026 provides an 13% increase in funding for the Probation Service. This additional funding will be used to increase use of supervised community sanctions in the criminal courts, expand restorative justice services, and expand supervised temporary release schemes nationally.
The Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was published on 9 January 2026. The Bill includes a number of amendments to the Community Service Act 1983 to encourage greater use of community service orders (CSOs). Under these proposed amendments the maximum number of hours that can be imposed under a community service order will be doubled from 240 to 480 hours. The amendment will also require a court to consider a CSO if a sentence of up to two years is being considered (the current such threshold being one year), and to give reasons if the court considers that a CSO should not be made in any such case.
Work is also under way to develop a pilot bail support policy for women as an alternative to being detained in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing.
The Programme for Government also commits to implement electronic monitoring (EM) for appropriate categories of offender and Budget 2026 allocated funding of €2.1 million for the project to allow for staffing, procurement, and other set-up costs. A Request for Tender (RFT) was published last month, with a pilot expected to be operational in 2026.
