'We could be heading towards 6,000' inmates in Irish prisons after Easter court break
When numbers passed the 5,000 landmark in June 2024, Prison Officers’ Association deputy general secretary Gabriel Keaveney slammed the lack of planning by the Department of Justice and the Irish Prison Service (IPS)
Two years ago, the inspector of prisons, Mark Kelly, told the then government that the prison population — which had just exceeded 4,900 — was “many hundred in excess” of the number that could be safely held in prison.
Two months later, in May 2023, he sent an immediate action notification to then justice minister Helen McEntee over overcrowding and “degrading conditions” at Cloverhill Remand Prison.
Mr Kelly said there was “at least one serious in-cell assault” during their inspection.
In his annual report for 2023 — sent to the Department of Justice in March 2024, and published last February — the inspector urged the government to “impose an enforceable ceiling” on the number prisons could hold.
The Prison Officers’ Association has regularly raised the looming overcrowding crisis, telling the in March 2024 that it was a “ticking timebomb”.
When numbers passed the 5,000 landmark that June, Prison Officers’ Association deputy general secretary Gabriel Keaveney slammed the lack of planning by the Department of Justice and the Irish Prison Service (IPS).
Mr Keaveney said he had warned Ms McEntee there would be “trouble” in prisons and “huge conflict” between inmates.
With the courts largely closing during the summer, numbers plateaued, before breaching the 5,100 mark in November. It fell over the Christmas period, during court holidays, and slowly grew again in January, topping 5,100 again in early February of this year.
It is in the two months since then that numbers have risen sharply and quickly. By the end of February, it crossed 5,200. Then, a month later, surged passed 5,300.
During the first 10 days of April it has nearly hit 5,400 — sitting at 5,393 last Thursday.
“If the current rate continues in the next court session [after the Easter court holidays], we could be heading towards 6,000,” one experienced prison source said.
Last February, the reported that there was a 25% rise in the number of prisoners being disciplined over disorder — including physical assaults — in the last two years.
The number of incidents increased by over 2,000 cases between 2023 and 2025. The prisons with the biggest rise in incidents were Mountjoy Male Prison (+69%), Limerick Male Prison (+43%) and Cork Prison(+39%).
The figures emerged at the same time that a prison officer in Mountjoy was slashed across the face by an inmate in an incident that colleagues and management believe could easily have been fatal.
The new justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, did visit Cloverhill Prison last October. His visit sparked some hope that action might be taken.
“He has inherited the problem and he can’t go to [finance minister] Paschal Donohoe and demand €200m to build a prison,” another source said.
The Irish Prison Service and prison governors have been trying to carve out extra spaces from anywhere they can.
An estimated 128 spaces were created in 2024 and 131 more are planned for 2025 — but there is a limit.
Mr Kelly said: “The overcrowding crisis that has now engulfed the Irish Prison Service can only be resolved by courageous action at political level, including agreeing to impose an enforceable ceiling on the number of people who can be safely held in each prison.
He added: "No comparable jurisdiction has ever succeeded in building itself out of overcrowding.”
Now, The Irish Prison Service has a statement on its website in the section providing daily custody figures, the first sentence of which sums up their situation: “The Irish Prison Service must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the courts.”
It said that one option was temporary release. The figures show how this number has increased — from 348 on April 10, 2023, to 546 on the same date in 2024, and to 601 on April 10, 2025.
The Irish Prison Service said the Government has made “significant capital funding” available, with 300 additional spaces introduced in recent years.
In its statement, the Department of Justice said: “The Government is acutely aware of capacity restraints in our prisons and has committed to increasing capacity of our prisons by 1,5000 under the programme for government. This work has already commenced.”
It added: “An increase of €79m (18%) was secured in Budget 2025 towards a total of €525m in funding to increase prison capacity and tackle overcrowding.
"The Irish Prison Service capital budget is €53m in 2025, an increase of €22.5m on the original 2024 allocation, focused on bringing additional prison spaces into the system.”
It said the Government was committed to implementing policies to increase the use of community sanctions, reduce offending, divert people away from the criminal justice system, and provide effective rehabilitation.
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