I wish to share a minute of my time with Deputy O'Donoghue.
Adjournment Debate. - Castlerea (Roscommon) Prison Project.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
The proposed prison in Castlerea is part of the major plan to deal with the ever increasing threat of crime to our society. It is a matter of regret that the Minister for Justice is not present. It is important to recognise that if she had been at last week's Cabinet meeting, at least we could satisfy ourselves that she would have offered reasonable resistance to the dropping of a major plank in the fight against the ever increasing crimewave. A few months ago the same Minister for Justice decided to confirm the intention to build a prison at Castlerea — a prison that would provide 150 badly needed spaces at a time when over 700 persons are freely engaging in a rampage of crime and there are over 2,000 recognised heroin addicts in this city responsible for 80 per cent of all crime in this country.
In addition to the gross insult the Minister for Finance conveyed to the people of the west, the Minister for Justice announced that prisoners from Britain and elsewhere in Europe will be transferred here as a result of the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners Act, recently passed by this House. She also proposes to introduce changes in the Constitution in connection with bail which will further increase the demand for prison places. She proposes to eliminate once and for all the revolving door syndrome but at the same time she wipes off the slate the previous Minister for Justice's intention to provide 1,150 Garda Síochána and two prisons, one for women and one for men in the west. It is an act of insanity showing total disregard for the fact that crime is at an all time high.
The Fine Gael candidate in the Wicklow by-election states that his major election plank is law and order and that he stands against crime.
Another false promise.
How sincere can that type of campaign be? I hope the people of Wicklow know what they are contending with and vote accordingly.
It is clear that the law and order package announced by the Minister for Justice is in tatters. It was torn up while she was not present at the Cabinet table, when the Minister for Finance arbitrarily dictated that neither the prison in Castlerea nor the women's prison at Mountjoy would proceed. We all want to contain public expenditure but it is a matter for Government to get its priorities right.
On this occasion it is quite evident that the Government has got its priorities entirely wrong. It is unseemly that a so called "law and order" party should be led on this issue by a Labour Minister for Finance and a Democratic Left Minister for Social Welfare who seems to have no difficulty whatsoever in demanding and achieving every now and then what he seeks. It is a sad day for the Fine Gael Party that it has let itself go to the extent that decisions are made behind the back of its own Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach will not support his own Minister at Cabinet and makes vital decisions about the Department in her absence.
The Government has commenced its review of the 1996 budget. As agreed in A Government of Renewal the Government is committed to achieving a target of 2 per cent real growth in gross current supply services expenditure in 1996.
The Government is determined to ensure a strategic approach to the allocation of available resources in 1996. This will involve all Ministers, including the Minister for Justice, in a review of existing policies and expenditures with a view to maximising benefits within the Government's spending target for 1996. It is in this context that the Government found it necessary to defer the Castlerea project.
This Government will not be doing it.
The House will be aware that a contract for the perimeter wall and associated works was placed in May 1994 and is due for completion by the end of this month. The total cost of this contract will amount to £1.3 million approximately. Works under this contract are virtually complete.
There are 12 prisons including three open centres: Mountjoy, Mountjoy training unit, Portlaoise, Arbour Hill, Limerick, Cork, St. Patrick's Institution.
Wheatfield, Fort Mitchel, Loughan House, Shelton Abbey and Shanganagh Castle, allowing for a total of approximately 2,240 spaces.
The Department of Education has places of detention at Oberstown and Trinity House. These centres have accommodation for up to 30 people each.
The Minister is reviewing all aspects of prison operations, with the objective of ensuring that optimum use is made of all available prison accommodation. In particular, the Minister is examining the opportunities that have or are likely to arise in Portlaoise from the effects of the peace process. She is also examining the whole issue of payment of fines and debts by such means as attachment of income or a phased payment system. Such changes will ensure that punishment other than custody can be used for such offenders. Although the numbers in custody at any time for such offences are small, the Minister is most anxious that those convicted of more serious crime will occupy prison spaces.
Within the limits of financial constraints, the Minister will be taking a hard look at the non-custodial treatment of offenders, especially opportunities for the expansion of the community sanctions and other measures, as an alternative to imprisonment in suitable cases.