MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern has announced the provision of 550 new prison spaces in Castlerea.
Mr Ahern said that when the prison development programme was completed, the Irish prison system would be comparable to best international practice in terms of accommodation and services for prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration.
“This will put the Irish prison service in good stead for the 21st century.”
Mr Ahern was speaking at Castlerea, Co Roscommon, where he opened an accommodation block for 100 prisoners.
He added that current developments would provide a potential 450 further prison spaces before the end of the year.
New blocks in Portlaoise and Wheatfield, each accommodating 200 prisoners, would be opened, while the separation unit in Mountjoy would provide an additional 50 spaces.
All the new units would have in-cell sanitation, said Mr Ahern.
However, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has claimed that the Government is not doing enough to tackle overcrowding in prisons.
In an RTÉ interview, general secretary Gabriel Keaveney said it was an established fact that there was a shortage of spaces throughout the State. “The consequence of that is serious overcrowding,” he added.
Mr Ahern said that the provision of extra facilities in Castlerea represented just one aspect of the major prisons’ capital programme into which the Government was, and had been, investing significant resources.
“Since 1997, in excess of 1,400 prison spaces have come on stream in the prison system,” he added.
Mr Ahern said he had recently affirmed the Government’s commitment to the replacement of the four prisons on the Mountjoy campus in Dublin city centre to a 140-acre greenfield site at Thornton Hall in north Dublin and the replacement of Cork prison at Kilworth.
Between them, they would comprise nearly 40 per cent of the entire prison estate.
“When this programme is completed, the Irish prison estate will be comparable to the best international practice in terms of accommodation facilities and services for the rehabilitation of prisoners and their reintegration into society,” he added.
Mr Ahern said that developments in the prison system were not solely confined to improving the prison facilities.
“The prison service is committed to the development and improvement of the rehabilitation programmes for offenders in a way which encourages and supports them in endeavouring to live law abiding and purposeful lives as valued members of society,”’ he added.
The Minister said that the Irish Prison Service placed a strong emphasis on providing vocational training activities for prisoners.
These were chosen to give as much employment as possible in prison and to equip prisoners with the skills to help them secure jobs on their release.
