Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-24
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Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

I am not trying to delay things. I do, however, want to put something on record. We are not going to deal with the issues that have been raised unless we have decent, civilised circumstances. We are not going to deal with it. The Minister was asked by Senator O’Reilly to talk about Thornton Hall. He did talk about what he has done in two other locations, and that is good news. It concerned what the Minister has done in Castlerea and what he is planning to do in Clover Hill. What is needed now is for the Minister’s colleagues in government to make an absolutely firm commitment to start building the facility at Thornton Hall, including the various units to which I refer, and to make use of the significant investment that has already gone into that place to end overcrowding. That is the point I want to make. It is the only point I want to make.
I do not believe there is anything inherently wrong with using incapacitant sprays in disorderly situations of a certain kind, but they cannot be made routine. I presume that the rules the Minister has in mind for them will have similar requirements as apply to gardaí, who are even required to report on the use of a baton and the like. Senator Ruane said that perhaps the Minister thinks she is being naive in some of the things she said. Many of the points she is making are correct. The answer, though, is not to leave Irish prison officers in a situation where they have to use excessive force, in excess of what would be achieved by an incapacitant spray, to subdue riotous and disorderly behaviour. In the end, this is not merely a threat to the prison officers themselves, but, very frequently, a threat to other prisoners, for whom we all have a collective duty to keep safe.

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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