Mick Clifford: TDs call for more capacity in prisons displays ignorance of penal policy

With Fine Gael languishing in the polls, one TD pulled out the old reliable law-and-order card, writes Mick Clifford

Surely the increasing numbers being locked up is a sign of failure to properly address crime and particularly the causes of crime.

What do you do when the polls aren’t going your way? Draw a kick at somebody, anybody, to try to remind the great unwashed that you are the man.

On bank holiday Monday Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond issued a press release calling for more prison places.