€5k a week cost of keeping Dundon trio in jail

The average cost of jailing the three Dundon brothers who were convicted of murder as well as other dangerous criminals at the State’s only high security prison shot up last year.

Figures released by the Irish Prison Service (IPS) confirm it is costing the taxpayer €1,818 per week to jail each prisoner at Portlaoise — up from the €1,675 in 2012.

The cost per prisoner space at Portlaoise last year increased by 8.5%, from €87,108 to €94,575.

As a result, the combined costs to the taxpayer of jailing convicted murderers, John, Wayne, and Dessie Dundon is €5,456 each week, or €283,725 a year.

All three are serving life sentences in Portlaoise, with gang boss, Wayne Dundon, 36, convicted of the murder of Limerick businessman, Roy Collins, in July.

The 35-year-old father- of-two was shot dead on April 9, 2009, as he worked at the family business in Limerick.

John Dundon, 31, is serving life for the murder of Shane Geoghegan, shot dead in a case of mistaken identity in November 2008.

Dessie Dundon, 30, is serving life for the murder of rival crime boss, Kieran Keane, in January 2002.

It cost the taxpayer €27.5m to run Portlaoise last year, a year that saw the release of one of the prison’s most notorious inmates, drug dealer John Gilligan.

The prison also houses jailed dissident republicans, including the alleged leader of the Real IRA, Michael McKevitt.

Costs at Portlaoise are far in excess of the average annual cost (€65,542) at the State’s 4,426 prison spaces.

The IPS says the 2013 €65,542 cost represents “a very small increase on the 2012 cost of €65,404.”

A chief factor behind the rise in costs at Portlaoise is the number of prison spaces falling from 316 in 2012 to 291 last year, with overall, fixed costs not dropping.

The average cost relates to the running costs and does not factor in capital expenditure.

A breakdown of the figures show that prisoner- related fixed costs, that concern mainly prison officers’ pay, total €66,981 per prisoner, with non- custodial costs, including prisoner escorts, totalling €15,129 per prisoner.

Prisoner-related costs covering catering, healthcare, prisoner gratuities, clothing, bedding, recreational facilities, laundry, and drug detection totalled €6,177 per prisoner, while accommodation-related, variable costs totalled €6,287.

The cost at Portlaoise is more than twice that at the country’s two open prisons at Shelton Abbey and Loughan House, where it increased from €41,968 to €44,133.

The average cost of accommodating prisoners in closed prisons — including the likes of Mountjoy, Limerick, and Cork, decreased from €65,218 to €64,771.

The IPS reported that yesterday, the Irish prison system was at 92% capacity — with 3,858 prisoners behind bars.