Statement by Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan TD

Following the publication of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons 2024 Annual Report I want to thank them for their work.

I would like to stress that the Government and I are acutely aware of the capacity restraints in our prisons and the resulting challenges. This underlines again the urgency of investment in the prison estate to reduce the impact of overcrowding in our prisons and to ensure there is adequate prison capacity in the coming years to underpin an effective criminal justice system. The Irish Prison Service must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts, when the justice system has directed they be incarcerated.

I secured a record allocation in Budget 2026, with a capital investment of €67.9 million as part of a total investment of €527 million from 2026 to 2030. €495 million will be invested in building projects to deliver on a plan to build 1595 prison spaces by 2031 and includes a new prison on the site of the old Cork prison, a new block in Wheatfield, an additional block extension at Midlands prison, and additional spaces at Castlerea, Mountjoy, Cloverhill, Portlaoise, Limerick and Dóchas. It will also fund planning and commencement of construction of a new prison at Thornton in North County Dublin.

In June I secured Government approval to accelerate the delivery of 960 prison spaces, which will speed up delivery timelines by 12 to 18 months.

Further recruitment of Prison Officers and staff and the use of additional hours must also continue to help reduce violence in prisons. The Irish Prison Service aims to recruit up to 300 prison officers in 2025, in addition to the 271 prison officers recruited in 2024. There has also been an increase in funding to allow for 210,000 additional staff hours in our prisons.

My Department and I are committed to working with the Irish Prison Service to ensure prisons are as safe as they can be. Staff Safety Protocols in are under continuous review by the Prison Service. Active steps are being taken to protect prisoners through the prevention of the access of contraband into the Prison Estate. This is a priority for the Prison Service and joint operations with An Garda Síochana are in place to combat this issue.

I am also committed to progressing commitments in the Programme for Government related to the expanded use of community sanctions to provide alternatives to custodial sanctions The General Scheme of Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 includes provision. to strengthen community service as an alternative to a custodial sentence, improving efforts to rehabilitate offenders by diverting people away from the criminal justice system and providing effective rehabilitation through community sanctions where appropriate.

This commitment is also demonstrated by Budget 2026 , which increased funding for the Probation Service by 11.2%, allowing for the recruitment of 100 additional staff to allow for increases in use of supervised community sanctions in the criminal courts, expand restorative justice services and expand supervised temporary release schemes nationally.

Existing legislation, including the Bail Act 1997(as amended), the Criminal Justice Act 2006(as amended), and the Sex Offenders Act 2001(as amended), provide for the use of electronic monitoring (EM). To operationalise this it is intended to go to tender for an EM service provide this year.

I am committed to driving momentum on penal reform, continued infrastructure investment, and the humane treatment of all those in custody.