I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor. I wish to raise the issue of prison spaces. One of the commitments in the programme for Government in the area of justice was to increase the number of spaces for prisoners. I am highlighting this because I am concerned by recent commentary by members of the Prison Officers Association, who said that because of the shortage of prison spaces, many of the recreation halls and other usable spaces in our prisons are currently being used to house prisoners. Their concerns have now reached a point where the justice system might find it difficult to allocate sentences for prisoners to be kept in prison because of the shortage of spaces. Many in this Chamber and the wider community share these concerns. I would like to get an update on the record as to where we stand on the issue of prison spaces, and what are the plans to ensure that no judge feels they cannot sentence people to prison because there are no spaces to house them.

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Deputy O'Callaghan, who is in the Dáil Chamber today.

The Minister is acutely aware of capacity restraints in our prisons and the resulting challenges faced by those who work and live in our prisons. Work to increase capacity has begun. Since 2022, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by 380 new spaces, with 126 delivered in 2024 and 43 delivered to date in 2025, with plans to deliver a further 138 by the end of 2026.

Action is being taken by the Irish Prison Service on a daily basis to manage overcrowding through 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.

Following the review of the national development plan, a record capital investment of €495 million is being provided to the Irish Prison Service for a capital building programme over the next five years to deliver on the Government's commitments to expand capacity in our prisons, which will enable the largest ever prison building programme in the State. This funding will allow the delivery of 1,595 spaces between now and 2031. This 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 and the Dóchas Centre.

Additionally, the Minister sought and secured an exemption for six projects to move straight to approval gate 2 - pre-tender approval of the infrastructure guidelines - and this measure is expected to speed up the delivery of 960 of these spaces by 12 to 18 months. That is a really important point.

Budget 2025 increased overall funding for the Irish Prison Service by €79 million, or 18%, compared to 2024, bringing the total allocated to nearly €525 million. This increase is to fund measures to address overcrowding, including a capital budget of €53 million, which is €22.5 million more than the original 2024 allocation. Supported by the increased budget, the Irish Prison Service also aims to recruit up to 300 prison officers in 2025, in addition to the 271 prison officers recruited in 2024.

The programme for Government also commits to implement electronic tagging for appropriate categories of prisoner. Work is under way to operationalise electronic monitoring in line with existing legislative provisions. It is intended to go to tender for an electronic monitoring provider this year.

I thank the Minister of State and the Department for the response. I very much look forward to seeing the increase in prison places that has been outlined. I will come back to this issue again because it is one of the utmost importance. The public must feel confident that those convicted of serious crimes who are sent to prison have a space available to them and that prisons are adequately staffed by prison officers. I again thank the Minister of State for her response.

I thank Senator Byrne for bringing up such an important issue. On behalf of the Minister, I want to underline the importance of the commitment to progressing and implementing policies aimed at increasing the use of community sanctions that reduce offending, divert people away from imprisonment and provide effective rehabilitation. That is something we are working on.

On 6 May 2025, the Minister published the general scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025, which proposes to increase the maximum number of hours that can be imposed under a community service order from 240 to 480 hours. The amendment will also require a judge to consider a community service order for sentences of up to two years rather than the current one-year requirement. That is also being looked at. I am sure Senator Byrne is aware of that.

The Bill further includes a range of measures that will bring welcome changes across a range of areas, including bolstering censoring options to reduce reliance on custodial sentences.

In budget 2025, the Probation Service received an additional €4 million, bringing its total budget to more than €60 million. This is all important. I thank Senator Byrne for highlighting the issue. I assure him that the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, and his team are very much committed to delivering on these issues. They also see the urgent need to do that.

I thank the Minister of State and Senator Byrne.

I want to raise an issue concerning domestic abuse. I want to highlight that it is not just confined to what we can see. It is not just bruises, shouting or visible harm; it also includes financial control and economic abuse.

The abuser restricts access to money, sabotages employment or leaves victims appearing financially stable on paper, whereas in reality they control all the finances. This form of abuse traps victims' independence and prevents them from seeking justice. Yet our legal aid system, the very system that is meant to protect vulnerable people in these circumstances, still assesses eligibility by income and assets, not by who controls them. Despite recognising coercive control in law, financial abuse remains invisible in practice.

The civil legal aid review group's report published in April, proposes a major redesign but barely touches domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. Domestic violence is only mentioned in passing and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence appear in the glossary but there is no substantive discussion or recommendation. Crucially, there is no reference to financial abuse, economic abuse or coercive control at all. The proposed means test measures income and assets, not access to either of these. Even the exceptional circumstances provision fails to mention domestic or financial coercion. Victims, whose names are on joint accounts or joint mortgages but who cannot touch a cent of what is in those accounts, are told they earn too much for legal aid. On paper they look secure but in reality they are completely powerless.

There is also another side to this that is far too often overlooked. The abuser, often employed or declaring minimal income, qualifies for legal aid while the victim, working and trying to stay independent, is deemed ineligible. The abuser, represented at the State's expense, can drag out proceedings with adjournments and repeated applications. The victim, paying privately, eventually runs out of money and is forced to withdraw. This is not justice. This is a system being used as another form of control. If implemented as drafted, the new framework risks perpetuating exclusion rather than ending it. It creates three failures: a barrier to justice, where victims cannot safely separate or seek protection without legal advice; a misrepresentation of means, joint assets and shared income which hides the real power imbalance; and a failure under the Istanbul Convention and the CEDAW. Ireland must guarantee access to justice for all forms of gender-based violence, including financial abuse.

As I said, domestic abuse is not just physical or emotional. It is often financial, yet our legal aid framework still treats income as if victims can freely access it. I ask the Minister of State to take this back to the Department to clarify whether financial abuse will be recognised under the exceptional circumstances, whether victims of financial and coercive control will be explicitly included in the legal aid framework, and that the legal aid board staff receive training to identify financial and coercive control in their triage model.

I thank the Senator for this matter which is an area we have all been making recommendations on. It is something that is important to us all. As the Senator will know, I am here today to represent the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan.

It is important to note that criminal legal aid and civil legal aid are separate services. Criminal legal aid is granted by the courts and concerns the prosecution of criminal offences. An applicant for legal aid must establish, to the satisfaction of the court, that their means are insufficient to enable them to pay for legal aid themselves. The court must also be satisfied that, by reason of the "gravity of the charge" or "exceptional circumstances", it is essential in the interests of justice that the applicant should have legal aid.

In addition, the European Convention on Human Rights provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend themselves in person, or through legal assistance of their own choosing, or if they have insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require. The criminal legal aid scheme must operate with due regard to these rights.

Civil legal aid and advice is provided for qualifying individuals in a range of civil matters. There are two elements to the scheme: legal advice and legal representation. Eligibility is determined by way of a means test and a merits test on the merits of the case being taken.

The Legal Aid Board is the statutory, independent body responsible for the provision of civil legal aid and advice to persons of modest means. A range of civil legal issues is covered by the scheme, including domestic violence applications, which are prioritised by the board.

The board provides legal aid to all eligible applicants for the scheme, whether they are applicants to the court for certain remedies or the respondents in such cases. This is also the case in domestic violence proceedings. While contributions from those legally aided are an aspect of the scheme, the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 2017 provide that no contribution is payable for those applying solely for orders under the Domestic Violence Act 2018. Opportunities remain for continued work in the area of free legal aid as it relates to matters involving domestic violence.

In June 2022, a civil legal aid review group was established to review the current operation of the civil legal aid scheme, including the suitability of the current eligibility thresholds. The comprehensive set of recommendations contained in the review is being given careful consideration. This is happening now. These recommendations include the potential for legislative changes to modify the application of the legal merits test in certain circumstances and to provide access to legal representation in certain circumstances, irrespective of means, for victims of domestic violence.

I thank the Minister of State very much. I am delighted to see this area is being looked at now. I have one request while it is being looked at and this is to take into account the fact that sometimes one party may be entitled to legal aid and the other is not. If that is the case and if proceedings are being drawn out by months and sometimes years, could this aspect be looked at again for that person who is not entitled to legal aid at the start to see if they may be entitled to it halfway through? The Minister of State knows it could cost €1,000 each time it is necessary to get a solicitor to go to court. If what I have described becomes the case during the trial or whatever the different proceedings might be, I ask if eligibility for a means test for legal aid can be revisited at that point.

I will certainly bring this request to the attention of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. I feel it is very important. Access to justice is a fundamental right, a cornerstone of our democracy and central to the rule of law. Nowhere is this more significant than in cases where victims of domestic violence need court support. This is exactly what the Senator is saying. As I mentioned earlier, the comprehensive set of recommendations contained in the civil legal aid review is being given careful consideration by the Minister and his Department. The Senator will be aware that a range of supports is available for people experiencing domestic abuse, including from An Garda Síochána, our Courts Service and our other specialist domestic violence services, many of which are funded through Cuan or by the DSGBV agencies.

In March, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, announced funding of almost €4 million for the organisations that support victims of crime, including those that provide information and services on the rights of victims, courts and other complementary services, specialised counselling services and helplines, and training initiatives.

I have another page or two in my response, but I understand my time is up. I can assure the Senator that her concerns will certainly go back to the Minister and his Department. I thank her for raising this very serious issue.

Cuirim fáilte mhór go dtí an Teach roimh an Aire Stáit. Gabhaim buíochas léi as an obair an-mhaith atá á déanamh aici. The Minister of State is welcome to the House to discuss the urgent need for additional accommodation at St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill, County Cavan. The school has been a huge success and has grown exponentially. It now suffers from a serious lack of space which is affecting its ability to operate safely and effectively on behalf of its staff and students. There are 654 students on the books, a figure which is due to increase in the new academic year beginning in September 2026. I understand the school has 90 leaving certificate students departing this year, but so far, with enrolment not having closed, 135 students are seeking to enter the school for the academic year beginning September 2026. Unfortunately, due to a lack of space, unless things improve between now and then, 37 of those students will have the doors of the school closed to them. That is an awful pity because they are all local students from local feeder schools.

I would like to commend the principal, Angela Flanagan, and the entire teaching staff and school team on the superb learning environment they have created in the school, which is manifesting itself in the results the students are getting and their academic achievements but also the numbers who hope to attend the school. The numbers speak for themselves. There will be over 700 students there next year. Unfortunately, the lack of accommodation is affecting the school's ability to provide educational attainment to the children who attend in a safe manner. The issue of accommodation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State so that the school can look forward to sending out letters of offer to all students who wish to attend. I understand the enrolment process will conclude on 17 October and the school hopes to send out letters of offer on 31 October. The clock is ticking. I acknowledge the latitude of the Acting Chair in this regard.

The clock is ticking but we are okay. We are not under pressure. We only have three Commencement matters today.

I welcome the support of Senator Gallagher, my neighbour from Monaghan, on this issue. Principals do not like to get politically involved or seek support, but sometimes it comes to a point where they feel they have no other option.

I want to raise the issue of the lack of spaces in St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill. I was contacted by the principal because the school is facing a major problem again this year with space and accommodation due to the high numbers of students. By August 2024, the school will have 700 students. Its existing building has a lack of space and even though it was granted a traditional build project in 2021, four years later the project is stuck at design stage 2B. The school will be forced to cap enrolment and turn 37 children from local feeder schools away.

Last year, the school opened an ASD class by changing one of its mainstream classrooms. This stopgap cannot be repeated because there is simply no more space to reconfigure classrooms. The principal submitted an additional school accommodation, ASA, form in February, but there was no update from the Department. Rather, there was only an automatic response acknowledging the application with inaccurate details the principal has since tried to address, with no success.

The deadline for offering school places is 30 October 2025, which is a mere two weeks away. The school finds itself in an incredibly difficult situation as they urgently try to find space rather than turn away students.

This is not a problem with Cootehill only. I will give an idea of where Cootehill is located. The next secondary school north of Cootehill is in Cavan town. Thirty-two students are being bused from Cavan town to Belturbet school because of a lack of space in schools in Cavan town. In 2020, Bailieborough Community School was approved for an extension twice its size. That school is overflowing with students and is waiting five years having been approved for an extension. That project is still at stage 2B. Another neighbouring school is in Kingscourt and due to a lack of space it is overflowing with students. In 2021, the school was approved for design stage 2B. Virginia College is another school that these pupils could attend and the same situation applies. In 2020, the school was approved but school works have not commenced.

Teachers, principals, and students are being put in an impossible situation. It is not like these students can go some place else. There is actually no place for them to go. My question is simple: where are 37 students supposed to go if the Department does not intervene before the end of the month?

I thank the two Senators for highlighting this very serious issue. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee. The Department of Education and Youth plans to address the additional accommodation needs for St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School, Cootehill, County Cavan.

St. Aidan’s is a co-educational comprehensive school under Catholic patronage. Currently 630 pupils are enrolled in the school. The Department is in receipt of an application for funding under the additional schools accommodation, ASA, scheme from St. Aidan’s. The application was received in September 2025 and sought accommodation in the form of a music room, a textiles room, a design and computer graphics room, a multimedia room, and a science lab and prep area.

St. Aidan’s was approved for a permanent build project for a home economics room, an engineering room and prep area and a construction studies prep area. This project is currently at stage 2B as both Senators have mentioned. It is now devolved to the school authority for delivery so the school is on for delivery.

The school was approved two modular mainstream classrooms and this project is complete. The stage 1 early design report for the traditional build was submitted to Department officials in December 2022. Following this, the Department conducted a comprehensive review of the project from both technical and cost perspectives, in line with the requirements of the public spending code.

In March 2023, approval was recommended to progress the project to stage 2B planning, incorporating the Department’s comments and recommendations. At the time, the design team was required to submit a revised cost plan and updated drawings reflecting design changes as part of the stage 2B report. The ASA delivery section currently awaits this updated cost plan and the stage 2B post-planning report from the school, which should include the necessary statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documentation for review.

It is noted that the school submitted a request for additional accommodation in September 2025, which may have implications for the scope and progression of the current ASA project. The Department will be required to assess the impact of this request in the context of this existing project.

The school also applied, under the ASA scheme, in February 2025 for special class accommodation and a replacement mainstream classroom. The school had requested that this accommodation be added to their traditional build project. However, given the delays this would have entailed the school agreeing to allow its stage 2B project proceed and to have its accommodation needs reviewed at a later stage.

The school was advised, as an interim measure, that it could apply for funding to reconfigure current accommodation for a special class. While the Department of Education and Youth is aware of continuing enrolment pressures and demand for additional school places in the area, it is important to note that where enrolment pressures arise, the position may be compounded by duplication of applications, school of choice and external draw factors.

The Department of Education and Youth's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places. The Department will continue the supports and active engagement it has put in place over recent years for schools and parents in ensuring all pupils receive an offer of a school place for the 2026-27 school year and into the future. The educational welfare service of the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, and its national network of educational welfare officers is the statutory agency that can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child.

I am anxious that we wrap up, if the Senators would like to take a half a minute each.

I am happy to share. I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. Clearly, there is urgency attached to this. The last thing we want to do is turn 37 local people away from the secondary school in Cootehill come September next year.

As I see it, there are two strands to this. There is the new build, which, as the Minister of State knows well, will take a considerable length of time. In the meantime, additional accommodation is required by way of modular or whatever. That is what needs to happen to get them out of the current maze.

I will be grateful if the Minister of State would take that message back to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and stress to her the urgency of addressing this situation.

I support Senator Gallagher in what he said about modular accommodation. I am disappointed that there is not a better answer than what the Minister of State outlined, although I know it is not her Department. I am extremely disappointed for the staff, who are juggling all the time. They constantly have to come up with new ideas. They did that for their SEN class and now they are really stuck and they need a dig-out on it.

I have outlined previously the issue of the schools surrounding this school all bursting at the seams. Where are these 37 children to go? The issue needs to be addressed urgently.

I thank the Senators. I see the seriousness of it. Every day I deal with schools in my area, Carlow-Kilkenny. I want to echo the Senators. I have to compliment the teachers for their hard work and dedication over the years. There is the urgent matter, as Senator O'Reilly said, of the 37 students - local children - looking for a school. Both Senators can be assured that I will be straight away back in contact with the Department. I have been advised that the Department will advance this matter as quickly as possible and that it is very conscious that where additional accommodation is required, a significant lead-in time is necessary for a variety of reasons. The Minister is also saying this.

I thank the Senators again. I can assure them I will definitely go back to the Minister on this.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor. It is always great to see her in the House. I thank her for giving of her time because this is an exceptionally busy day for any Minister. It is budget day. I thank her for giving of her time, coming in and addressing all the Commencement matters on the agenda today. It is greatly appreciated. I thank the Senators.