Prisons and Alternative Sentencing Options: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22 ============================================================ Garret Kelleher (FG), Industrial and Commercial Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire, an Teachta O’Callaghan, as ucht a bheith inár measc tráthnóna inniu chun páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht seo. Is tábhachtach an rud é a bheith ag smaoineamh go rialta ar an gcóras dlí agus cirt atá againn sa tír seo agus conas gur féidir linn feabhas a chur air agus é a athrú don tsochaí i gcoitinne, d’íospartaigh a d’fhulaing mar gheall ar ghníomhartha coiriúla agus, chomh maith leis sin, do chiontóirí, chun seans a thabhairt dóibh éalú ó shaol na coiriúlachta. I welcome this afternoon’s debate on prisons and alternative sentencing options. I welcome the work being done by the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, in seeking to improve our Prison Service and the focus on non-custodial sentences and additional funding for community service initiatives and our probation services, as he alluded to in his opening remarks. I believe that we always need to remain open-minded to the possibilities of systemic change when the changes being proposed are evidence-based and have a proven track record of success in different but comparable jurisdictions. A quick look at the Irish Prison Service website will tell us that today, the majority of Irish prisons have more persons in custody than places available. The cumulative totals for all of our prisons today, as referenced by the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, show we have a bed capacity of 4,736 places. However, we have 5,814 people in custody. This equates to 123% of our overall capacity. The current levels of overcrowding in our prisons are most acutely manifested in our female prisons. Mountjoy female prison currently has 228 women in custody today, exceeding its bed capacity of 146 by 56%. Limerick Prison currently has 91 women in custody, exceeding its capacity of 56 beds by 63%. Today, 548 mattresses are in use on the floors of Irish prisons with some prisoners being faced with the choice of sleeping with their head near their cell door or lying down with their head close to the cell toilet. It is very important that we remember the reason for imposing custodial sentences on criminal offenders is to deny those who have committed crimes their liberty. People in custody within our prisons, however, continue to have human rights and it is crucially important that these rights are respected by all in our criminal justice system. On Thursday last, I attended some interesting presentations in the audiovisual room organised by our colleague, Senator Aubrey McCarthy. These included presentations from Release, the restorative justice charity, and the Irish Penal Reform Trust. The presentations cited successes of community-based detention systems in countries such as the Netherlands, Norway and Germany. I know that Senator McCarthy does outstanding work in providing supports for people suffering with addiction issues and in helping them on their journeys to recovery. This type of approach seems to be at the centre of the community-based detention model, which it was claimed has significantly lower rates of recidivism and reoffending when compared with our traditional prison sentences. We must continue to ensure that we have a victim-centred approach to our criminal justice system, which encourages and supports victims to come forward and report crimes. We must also remain open, however, to exploring alternatives to traditional imprisonment, particularly for offenders given short custodial sentences. I welcome the remarks of the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, at the beginning of this debate. When evidence supports alternative systems that can clearly demonstrate lower rates of recidivism, better outcomes for prisoners, better outcomes for addiction issues, improved training and better roadmaps towards community involvement and successful reintegration into society, then we must give these alternatives due consideration as the process of improving our criminal justice system for all. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-22/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-22