The provision of 1,000 additional prison places when the new remand prison at Cloverhill is fully operational and the opening later this year of the new midlands prison in Portlaoise and the new women's prison on the North Circular Road, Dublin, will alleviate the problem of over crowding and begin to address the need to grant temporary or early release for that reason alone in a meaningful way.
Persons serving sentences for serious crimes such as the importation and supply of drugs, sex offences, armed robberies and other cases involving serious violence, are not granted periods of temporary release by me except in very exceptional circumstances. In addition, offenders convicted of violent offences against women and children, particularly domestic violence, are rarely granted periods of temporary release.
As the prison building programme progresses, I propose to ensure that unplanned or unprogrammed releases do not take place, not only in the case of the offender categories I mentioned, but also in cases of those convicted of other serious crimes, such as violence against women and children, serious public order offences, particularly those which give rise to terror, fear and apprehension among senior citizens and other vulnerable members of the community, attacks on the elderly, so-called joyriding and persistent car thieving.
The daily number of prisoners on temporary release has decreased considerably since I took office. The average number of prisoners on temporary release in May 1997 was 578, representing 19 per cent of the total number of prisoners serving a sentence. In contrast, the average number on temporary release in May 1999 was 411, 13 per cent of the those serving a sentence. The Deputy will agree that these figures represent a significant reduction but I am not sure the facts support that.
Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin: While the Minister indicated there will be extra prison spaces, he did not give definite figures or a date as to when we can expect this. There is still a perception that prisoners are released early from prison. Will the Minister be more specific about when these measures will be implemented? Can we expect a reduction in the overcrowding that still exists, particularly in Mountjoy, as a result of this announcement?