C&AG: Prisons overspent by €24m last year in response to 'rapidly rising' prisoner numbers

In its report, the Comptroller & Auditor General said overtime and extra allowance costs across prisons jumped from €53.5m in 2023 to €61.8m in 2024. File picture: Dan Linehan

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) overspent by €24m in 2024 as it scrambled to respond to “rapidly rising” prisoner numbers by creating new cells, providing more food, and paying extra security costs, the State’s spending watchdog has said.

The number of compensation cases involving prison officers, prisoners, and the public jumped from 478 in 2023 to 634 in 2024 — with payments and legal costs rising from €4.5m to €7.3m.

In its report, the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) said overtime and extra allowance costs across prisons jumped from €53.5m in 2023 to €61.8m in 2024.

Across its reports on various justice, immigration, and defence departments, the C&AG also found the Garda overtime bill climbed to €200.85m in 2024, up from the previous record of €183.8m in 2023.

The number of compensation cases involving gardaí and the public rose from 715 in 2023 to 1,324 in 2024, with total payments increasing from €15.8m to €22m, while Department of Justice asylum-related costs — including translation, IT and premises — overspent to the tune of €21.8m in 2024.

Difficulties and delays in recruiting staff, including to the Inspector of Prisons, Gsoc (now Fiosrú), Probation Service, Forensic Science Ireland, Insolvency Service Ireland, Judicial Council and International Protection Appeals Tribunal, resulted in savings in the region of €9m.

There was an overspend of €657m (to over €1bn) in the Department of Children and Integration in accommodation costs for asylum seekers, due to numbers rising from 26,300 in 2023 to 32,700 in 2024.

The department’s integration fund was underspent by €1.4m, in part due to a decision to postpone a public awareness campaign for the National Action Plan Against Racism. 

Almost €9m in Department of Defence funding for 2024 was unspent and given back to the exchequer, but the amount was half that surrendered in 2023 (€18m). 

There was an overspend of €8m in the Air Corps in 2024, due to higher than anticipated aircraft maintenance costs, with a €4m overspend in the Naval Service, due to increased costs in service contracts.

The spending watchdog identified a range of expenditures in the Irish Prison Service that went into the red last year, due to the overcrowding crisis.

This included an excess of €14.5m in prison buildings and equipment.

“There was an urgent need to reconfigure some areas of the [prison] estate to provide cell accommodation to deal with the rapidly rising prisoner numbers,” the C&AG said.

It said there was a €8.5m overspend in prisoner catering and medicine: “This is due in the main to increased prison population where prisoner numbers exceeded 5,000 during 2024.” 

It said criminal compensation payments to prison staff, including as a result of assault, more than tripled, from €1.2m in 2023 to €4.1m in 2024.

The Department of Defence report shows €84m was spent in 2024 on major capital projects, including €30.75m on a strategic reach aircraft. At the close of 2024, the department had made prepayments totalling €182m, including €57.5m for military transport aircraft.