Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-24 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank Senators for the amendments they put down on Committee Stage, for which I am here today and back again tomorrow. I thank Senator Ruane for her amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3, which seek to amend section 4 of the Bill by deleting the amendments I am proposing to the Firearms Act, which refer to the use and capacity of the Irish prison service to have incapacitant spray. At the outset, I acknowledge that Senator Ruane has consistently displayed an interest in penal matters and has very good knowledge of the pressures our prisons are under. She has worked very well in the area of penal reform. Since I became Minister, I have visited every prison in the country, except the Midlands Prison. I have visited 12 of the 13 prisons, and I am going to go back to start visiting them again. Every time I go, I meet the staff and the governors and I always make sure I also meet the prisoners. As the Senator knows, there is a lot of good work going on in Irish prisons at present. It is not a simple narrative because, unquestionably, there is overcrowding in Irish prisons. I am responsible for ending that and seeking to reduce it. Last year, I got authority from the Government to invest up to €500 million in further prison construction. I do not believe all our solutions involve building more prisons. However, when you look at how our population has risen in the last ten to 15 years, it is clear that our prison capacity has not increased correspondingly. The main reason we have overcrowding today is because we never increased capacity. Work being done on estates by the Irish Prison Service is done very quickly and professionally. Recently, I went to Castlerea where I saw the new buildings that have already been built in the grove with the money I got authority for in May 2025. It is a small development but it has been constructed within one year. There will be further construction starting in Cloverhill soon. I believe we will see an increase in the prison estate and its capacity. That is essential to ensure prisoners are not exposed to overcrowding. The amendments that have been put down by Senator Ruane - amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3 - seek to stop the legislation that I am introducing from enabling prison officers to have incapacitant spray. I am not going to agree to the amendments because I believe it is necessary and appropriate that prison officers should have access to mechanisms for defending themselves. I say that notwithstanding the fact that when I have gone to all the prisons, one of the things that does not surprise me but is very noticeable is the very good relationship that exists between prisoners and prison officers. People who have not been into prisons may be surprised by that, but there is an excellent relationship that is predominantly one of trust and engagement between prisoners, prison officers and prison staff. We do not see many attacks on prison officers by prisoners. Regrettably, since I have become Minister, there have been attacks upon them. It is essential that prison officers are properly equipped to protect themselves, their colleagues and, of course, the prisoners in their care from serious and potentially lethal violence. To that end, I believe it is necessary for prison officers to be able to use incapacitant sprays in appropriate circumstances where the situation may demand it. It does not mean that once this law is enacted, or if this law is enacted, prison officers will start going around using incapacitant spray with reckless abandon. It is important to point out that Ireland is one of a tiny number of European states whose prison officers are not currently allowed to use this protection in any circumstances. The vast majority of other European jurisdictions have long since determined incapacitant spray to be an essential item in this regard. The evidence shows that such sprays do not cause long-term health effects and that, used appropriately, they can prevent or minimise incidents of serious prison violence and indeed reduce the need for more forceful and potentially injurious physical interventions by prison officers. Because of the professionalism of Irish prison officers, if this law is enacted I believe we will not see any significant change. We will not see prison officers reaching for pepper spray in an immediate response to a circumstance which otherwise they could resolve. It is important to point out what the Bill does and does not do in relation to incapacitant sprays. It does not authorise unconditional possession or deployment. Rather, it removes what is currently an outright prohibition on prison officers possessing, using or carrying such sprays in the course of their duties. The Bill provides that such sprays will be permitted only in accordance with such further provisions as may be made by me under the prison rules. The use of such sprays will be further underpinned by mandatory policies and operating procedures and by bespoke training for prison officers to ensure that these devices are used appropriately and in line with all applicable health and safety and human rights considerations. The sprays will also be piloted in selected locations before any wider roll-out. Consequently, I cannot accept amendments Nos. 1, 2 or 3. I thank Senator O'Reilly for her amendment No. 10. It proposes to insert a new section 6 into the Bill providing for a review of operation of the provisions relating to the possession, use and carriage of incapacitant spray. The review would be carried out by the Minister no later than 12 months after commencement and would examine the operation and practice of the provisions enabling prison officers to possess, use and carrying incapacitant spray. The measures to be considered in the review are set out in paragraphs (a) to (f). I share the objective of keeping legislation under review. However, Senators will be aware, and Senator McDowell and I discussed this recently, that under Dáil Standing Order 204 there must be a post-enactment report in respect of all Acts enacted. I believe there is a similar provision in the Seanad Standing Orders. That report is to be prepared by the Minister responsible for implementation 12 months after enactment and provides a review of the functioning of the Act to date. These reports are laid in the Oireachtas Library. The review the Senator proposes would, in practice, substantially duplicate the post-enactment report process that already applies to this Bill on commencement. Indeed, having this obligation in the Standing Orders rather than scattered across various pieces of legislation ensures consistency in the manner and timing of reviews of new legislation. For those reasons I do not consider a statutory review provision of the kind proposed as necessary. Therefore, I will not be accepting the amendment. --- 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/2026-06-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-24