'It is not the system’s failure': Cork judge jails serial shoplifter 

Cork woman branded a 'menace' as she is sentenced to six months in prison

Lawyer Joseph Cuddigan complained at Cork District Court that when Margaret Deasy, aged 37, finishes a prison sentence she is simply ‘turfed out’ with nowhere to go and she falls back into crime.

A woman who was convicted of shoplifting 178 times committed three more thefts last week — including snatching €280 worth of steaks from a supermarket — and now she has been failed by the system, her lawyer claimed.

Joseph Cuddigan complained at Cork District Court that when Margaret Deasy, aged 37, finishes a prison sentence she is simply ‘turfed out’ with nowhere to go and she falls back into her previous patterns. Mr Cuddigan said that in Nordic countries there is a half-way house that prisoners can attend on their release from custody and that this is not available in Ireland.