Provision of Almost 1,000 Extra Prison Places to Be Fast-Tracked

Old Cork Prison to be demolished and rebuilt... by 2031

The Justice Minister will today unveil his plan to accelerate the delivery of more prison places.

Provision of almost 1,000 extra prison places to be fast-tracked

Minister believes initiative will reduce delivery timelines by between 12 and 18 months

Justice Minister to speed up plans to build almost 1,000 new Irish prison spaces

More than 5,390 people are currently locked up in Ireland

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan to bring plan for hundreds of new prison spaces to cabinet colleagues

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan is to tell the Cabinet of plans to accelerate the construction of almost 1,000 new prison spaces by 2030.

Justice minister to accelerate building of nearly 1,000 prison spaces across the country

Jim O'Callaghan will inform government that the prison estate as a whole is currently operating at 115% over capacity

Prison expansion must not just create more space for people to fall through the cracks

The government must not repeat the same failed approach to the expansion of the prison system by treating rehabilitation as an afterthought, according to Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon. Deputy Gannon, who is the party’s spokesperson on justice, said: “With a record number of people in prisons and sleeping on floors, it’s clear that our prison system is under intolerable pressure. But simply accelerating the construction of more cells is not the…