Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 December 2013
389. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which adequate and sufficient prison spaces are available to meet requirements at the present time; the extent to which more than one prisoner is accommodated in a cell; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53079/13]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that at the end of October 2013, there were 3093 usable cells in the prison system. 1,799 prisoners were accommodated in single cells which accounted for 44% of all prisoners (4,086). In addition, there were 878 cells which accommodated 2 prisoners, 133 cells which accommodated 3 prisoners and 30 cells which accommodated 4 or more prisoners. As the Deputy will appreciate the Irish Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts into its custody and does not have the option of refusing committals.
The Deputy will appreciate that my officials are concentrating on aligning our prisoner population numbers with the Inspector of Prisons' recommendations in those prisons with the highest levels of over-crowding, namely Cork Prison, Limerick Prison and the Dóchas Centre.
In addition, a 40 month capital programme is being implemented to eliminate slopping out and to improve prison conditions in the older part of the prison estate. I am advised by my officials that work is continuing on the modernisation project at Mountjoy prison. Refurbishment of the Mountjoy B and C wings was completed in 2012. A wing commenced in early January 2013 and is substantially completed and will be ready for occupancy early in the new year. D Wing is on track to have a contract awarded by end 2013 for the refurbishment and modernisation of the D wing and workshops. On completion of the refurbishment of D wing all cells in Mountjoy prison will have in-cell sanitation facilities.
In relation to Cork Prison, the tender process is now complete and a preferred tenderer has been identified. The contract is due to be signed at the end of this month and construction is due to begin in January 2014. The Business Case for the Limerick Prison project was submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure Reform in June of this year and approval has been received to advance the project to detail design stage. A number of enabling project works have commenced and the main tender documents are due to issue in early to mid 2014. When the Limerick project is completed there will be additional spaces available to the female prisoner population there also.
