An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-06
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. I know he will have a particular focus on Portlaoise as well as it is in his constituency. We do have a challenge with overcrowding in our prisons. There is very significant and good work going on in the areas of rehabilitation and youth justice programmes aimed at keeping people out of prison but the fact remains that some crimes must attract a prison sentence and some criminals need to go to jail. The Government and the Minister are acutely aware of the capacity constraints in our prisons and the resulting challenge faced by those who work and live in our prisons. The Minister is pursuing a dual approach to address the issue of capacity by increasing prison spaces and then pursuing further measures to support non-custodial sanctions. The Irish Prison Service is committed to preventing identified members of criminal gangs from conducting criminal activities while in custody and also to preventing them exerting inappropriate influence on other persons.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-06