Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
MOST OF IRELAND’S main prisons are over 90% full with some even over capacity.
The Irish Prison Service says that there are currently 3,852 prisoners in custody in the State meaning that 92% of the available beds are taken.
The highest rate is in the women’s prison in Mountjoy which currently houses 122 women from 105 beds available. It’s not the only prison over capacity with Cloverhill, Cork and Limerick prisons both at 100% capacity or above.
The Irish Prison Service also says that there are currently 587 prisoners on temporary release from prison, representing 12.8% of the total number of prisoners in the system.
Annual reports from visiting committees to five prisons have also been published today with overcrowding and drug use among the issues highlighted by the committees.
The Mountjoy report points to a number of different ways overcrowding affect the operation of the prison. It notes that complaints have reduced at the prison in 2013 and makes reference to an increased number of prisoners being locked-up for longer periods for their protection. This has however decreased in 2014 the report says.
In Wheatfield, the report notes how how drugs remains a problem in the prison and says that there is evidence that vulnerable prisoners and visitors can be bullied and threatened to bring in drugs.
The report from the Training Unit visiting committee make reference to the introduction of methadone into open prisons on the foot of a European Law Directive.
It says that there was unease over the plans but that the programme “is working successfully so far”.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
@Michael Ryan: then why didn’t women get all the jobs instead of all men bar 3? The women have more merit than all the men in cabinet. Sure there hasn’t even been one women as Taoiseach since the foundation of the country. Just all “merited” men? Men are a DEI pick.
@Michael Ryan: Precisely. The disproportionate number of men suggests that some of these men are not getting the job on merit. If the best person was getting the job every time then you’d expect a much more even split.
If there are women talented enough to get a cabinet seat they will get one. There seems to be an assumption there must be a 50/50 split. Please tell me why?. If women were promoted on talent alone then can someone explain how one of the most incompetent Justice minister ever seen here was a woman. You can’t have a job based purely on your sex. You need something extra.
@Clare Power: You are actually on to something there, women don’t crave power and are less ego driven than men. Hence the male heavy presence in most governments. Politicians have to be devoid of empathy and integrity to get into the top positions.
@Clare Power: or maybe they just aren’t qualified? Or maybe they are too emotionally driven? Or maybe they are not competent (we saw this with Foley & McEntee)
Don’t even know why this is an issue. The majority in the daily cannot (more accurately : will not) define what a woman is so what’s the problem – there’s no difference between the two so it shouldn’t matter.
As a woman I find it extremely patronising and pathetic when ones like MaryLou & MSM going on about diversity and not enough women blah blah…I couldn’t give a hoot, it should be the best person that matters…end of! ( but most of them can’t define a woman so I don’t really know why they’re complaining).
@Shaun Gallagher: Thick heads unable to find any intelligent criticism of the great choice of ministers resort to sexist analysis of gender of politicians.
@Shane Kinsella (Kinsey): Was Mary sexually abused when she was 6 years old? Do people worship Joseph and follow his example? Did Jesus rape and murder? I could go on and on because your attempted comparison is so unbelievably absurd. Not to mention the fact that I’m not a Christian, so I’m not in any glass house.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Yep, sure at the end of Sunday mass, the local priest tells us to go forth, rape and pilliage… I think you’ll find that the message of Jesus, the “Christ” in “Christianity,” is one of love, peace, and forgiveness. The message is Muhammad is one of conquest, murder of unbelievers and apostates and taking sex slaves. If you think Islam and Christianity are equal, you don’t know anything about Islam. Also again, I’m not a Christian, so not sure why you’re telling me this?? Why not compare it Buddhism or something?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: it’s actually quite amazing that rather than speak out in disgust about the new law in Iraq….they now somehow are trying to blame or accuse Christians…..you actually couldn’t make it up!
The fact of the matter is that there are more women in this country than men. If they really wanted female representation, they would run for office or vote for their fellow females instead of whining about it. It doesn’t matter if there’s no women in the cabinet, I couldn’t give a damn and all four of my children are girls. My wife couldn’t give a damn about it either, she also just wants the best person for the job. The funniest thing about this is that all three of the women in the cabinet have got to be the top three most incompetent individuals in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. More of that? No thank you. We need to end those bloody political correct quotas for a start if we want better people. Maybe then all the women in cabinet won’t feel like DEI hires.
@Liam Byrne: Ssshhhhh… you don’t bring that up when discussing female reps or the pay gap. It interferes with their double-think. Please try to be more careful.
Ask Lowry about the proposed racecourse in Tipperary. It is a priority for him. His benefactors expect him to deliver this project at taxpayers expense. Just like the Curragh debacle which cost taxpayers over €40m. It is a total failure. Be watchful of this issue— and examine who is pulling the strings. Mike
Martin definitely preparing for the exit door. He was asleep when Lowry pulled a fast one and he’s taken his eye off the ball on the gender balance. Losing his political touch nearing the end of his political career.
We had the Rat Pack top class entertainers now we have the Cat Pack leaders of Sin Fein Labour and The DPS oops not so top class but will probably be moaning for the next 5 years.
HA HA HA
The last female senior ministers didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory did they
Can anyone name any female TD’s that should have gotten a position in cabinet
What women have been overlooked who should have been in cabinet? We need people in these positions based on merit. Nothing else. If they happen to be women great. Once they are the best person for the job.
It’s 20% of cabinet positions and only 23% of TDs are women even though there has been a big increase the number of women running. It’s about proportionally correct for TDs but not for women in the country
People do not look into the realities of this issue because it’s not a kind reflection on how women treat female candidates.
In the US presidential election the narrative was that Harris didn’t win because of ‘misogyny’.
To support this theory you must ignore the fact that there are more females in the population than males (slightly more women are born than men & women live longer), women are more likely to be registered to vote than men & of the registered voters women are more likely to vote than men.
These factors combined mean that for decades there are much more women voters than men in every presidential election.
There are almost 10m more women voters (consistently circa 9.7m since the 1980s) yet somehow it’s mens fault that Hilary Clinton & Kamala Harris didn’t win.
It’s the same here in Ireland.
There are much more women voters than men & if women voted for women there would be more women TDs than male TDs.
I know a former female TD that wasn’t re-elected some election previously & she confirmed to me what all female candidates know but they cannot admit because it would destroy their election campaigns.
Generally speaking women won’t vote for women candidates for personal reasons.
When you start with quotas, where do you stop.
22% of the population are disabled!
So should 22% of the cabinet be people with disabilities?
I have never voted for a politician because of their gender and never will.
I will not vote for a politician if they are pushed on me to fit a gender balance.
Renewed appeal for information on 20th anniversary of murder of Emer O’Loughlin
3 hrs ago
2.0k
The Morning Lead
Trade war may reduce buyer pool in housing market due to reliance on rich multinational workers
Muiris O'Cearbhaill
3 hrs ago
2.6k
10
People Before Profit
People Before Profit TD and leader Richard Boyd Barrett to begin treatment for throat cancer
Updated
14 hrs ago
39.5k
18
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 164 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 111 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 146 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 116 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 85 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 85 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 136 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 76 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 84 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 47 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 93 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 100 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 73 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 55 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 91 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say