Northside jail rates spark ministerial review as prison plans face local opposition

Despite decades of funding, Cork’s disadvantaged areas still lead in jail terms, raising fresh policy concerns

Cork Prison on Rathmore Road in The Glen, Cork City. Picture: Larry Cummins

The Minister of State for rural and community development has asked officials in the department to examine the findings of a major Irish Examiner investigation into who is being jailed in Cork and why.

Jerry Buttimer said it was “disconcerting” to read how, despite decades of targeted government investment in areas of the city officially classed as “disadvantaged,” these areas still account for the highest number of jail terms imposed — and that this needs to be examined.

The analysis of almost 1,500 jail terms imposed in Cork courts over the last five years found that seven northside suburbs were in the top 10 for the number of jail terms imposed. These areas align closely with parts of the city classed as ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘very disadvantaged’ in the 2022 Pobal Deprivation Index.

These areas have higher rates of unemployment and lone parenting, and lower rates of school completion and third-level participation.

The Irish Examiner analysis also found that people living on the northside received, on average, longer jail terms than those with an address on the southside.

It revealed that homeless people received almost a quarter of the jail sentences handed down in the city courts over five years, and that addiction or substance abuse was cited in almost three-quarters of the cases analysed.

Theft, assault, public order, and drugs offences were the most frequently mentioned in the city courts, with men accounting for 87% of all jail terms. Men's sentences were, on average, twice as long as those imposed on women.

Mr Buttimer congratulated the Irish Examiner for the investigation, describing it as “an important piece of work.”

Jerry Buttimer said it was “disconcerting” to read how, despite decades of targeted government investment in areas of the city officially classed as “disadvantaged,” these areas still account for the highest number of jail terms imposed. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney

While he highlighted several positive examples of family and youth projects involving the Irish Prison Service, local resource centres, and the Cork ETB aimed at addressing recidivism, he acknowledged there is still a major problem.

“I’ve spoken to officials in my own department in community rural development on how we can ensure that there is, with Pobal, a piece of work done so that we can ensure that the investment we are putting in is paying dividends, in terms of people not being institutionalised in prison,” he said.

“We also have to work with different organisations to ensure there is a pathway to education, to safer streets, to rehabilitation from drug and alcohol misuse.

“But it is disconcerting to see that despite the vast sums of money spent by Government over generations, over decades, there is a map that illustrates a clear issue that we have to have a clear conversation on.

“I’ve asked people in my department to look at that as well.” 

The research comes as opposition grows on the city’s northside to recent government plans to repurpose the old Cork Prison building to provide around 300 new prison spaces.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the government will engage with the local community on the plan, but stated that his “high-level instinct” is that the State’s prison capacity must be increased—and quickly.

That increased capacity, he said, would provide the space for education and training programmes aimed at tackling the revolving door problem in the prison system.

“Providing adequate prison space, having it properly staffed and adequately resourced, provides that space or an environment within the prison where there can be a focus on ending the revolving door, by saying to people, how are you going to get your life back on track,” he said.

“Our population has grown and grown very significantly in recent years.

“We in the Oireachtas voted to increase the sentencing - that people who carry out heinous crimes should pay in terms of the time in prison, and that does require extra prison spaces.

“The minister for justice has an important role to do in bringing that extra space on track as quickly as possible.

“Having said that, any process has to engage with communities.

“Any process has to be conscious of the views of communities, and this government will absolutely engage with the community in relation to that.

“But we want to make sure our streets are safe, we want to make sure crime never pays, and one of the greatest deterrents to crime is people knowing there is enough prison capacity and if I commit a crime, I’m have a decent chance of going to prison."