The Government has sanctioned the construction of a further 700 closed prison places with support facilities, the Minister for Justice has announced.
Mr O'Donoghue said yesterday he was determined to complete his prison-building programme by fully implementing the Government's five-year programme commitment to provide 2,000 extra places.
"There is no going back on this. For decades the Irish prison system had been starved of investment, with the result that the culture of the revolving door became endemic to alleviate overcrowding." Mr O'Donoghue said no other administration had addressed the problem of prison spaces so comprehensively. "This Government has done what no other government before it has done. It has made the funding available on an unprecedented scale to redress the lack of investment," he said.
Under the current programme, an additional 1,207 spaces will be available with the completion of the new Midlands Prison in Portlaoise next autumn, he said. An additional 270 places are to be phased in over the next few weeks at Cloverhill Prison. A further 90 spaces would be provided by refurbishment at Portlaoise and Limerick prisons.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust said the decision was "shocking and incomprehensible". Its director, Dr Ian O'Donnell, said to build such facilities and keep them full would cost almost £500 million over the next 10 years.
The probation and welfare officers' branch of IMPACT accused the Minister of ignoring the recommendations of successive authoritative reports which have made a priority of the use of non-custodial sentences. "The Minister's prison tunnel vision is at the cost to community solidarity and safety," said its press officer, Mr Patrick O'Dea.
With 1,277 places being provided under the current prisons building programme, there remained a deficit of some 700 places which would now be provided, Mr O'Donoghue said. Under phase 2, 150 males would be accommodated in a new cell block at Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon, while 150 adults and 50 juveniles would be housed on two sites adjoining Cork Prison.
In addition, a suitable site near Dublin is to be found for the accommodation of up to 20 juvenile female and 90 juvenile male offenders. A new women's unit for 20 adult women is to replace the Limerick Female Prison and a "half-way house" in Limerick would accommodate 10 women.
Phase 3 would involve provision of 240 spaces for adult males on a site in the eastern region.
