Building more prisons is a “misguided” approach to the problem of crime, Labour Party Justice spokesman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said, adding that Ireland needs a “fundamental change in approach” to the justice system.
Reacting this week to reports from the Prison Officers’ Association which said that problems of overcrowding, drug abuse and attacks in prisons are getting worse, the Dublin Bay North TD said that the prison system “is currently not working to prevent re-offending, to protect victims of crime or to keep society safe.”
A “STAGGERING FAILURE” TO “RECOGNISE PRISONERS AS INDIVIDUALS IN NEED OF SUPPORT”
“Instead, it is marked by pernicious overcrowding,” he said.
“This has had a knock-on effect on prison conditions. I’ve visited Mountjoy on a number of occasions in the last few years myself. Prison conditions generally were poor with huge overcrowding problems and inadequate conditions.”
The TD said that during Fine Gael’s 13 years in office, there has been a “staggering failure” to “recognise prisoners as individuals in need of support and rehabilitation.”
“APPROACH OF BUILDING MORE PRISONS” IS “MISGUIDED”…“PRISON SHOULD BE A LAST RESORT”
“The approach of building more prisons, advocated by Fine Gael and Minister McEntee, is a misguided attempt to address symptoms rather than root causes,” he said.
“We have seen a persistent disregard for expert recommendations advocating for community-based sanctions over incarceration. It is time for Fine Gael to wake up and heed the overwhelming evidence that prison should be a last resort, with greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing re-offending rates.”
GOVERNMENT SHOULD “FOCUS ON REHABILITATION”
He added: “We call on Government to prioritise comprehensive reform, focus on rehabilitation and community-based solutions.
“Additionally, there must be a role for the judiciary to be more connected with the realities of prison life so that they fully understand the impact of their judgements. We cannot afford to perpetuate a broken system that only serves to further harm individuals and our community. It’s time for urgent action.”
PRISONS OVERCROWDED FOR DECADES
Last year the former governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan, told RTÉ’s This Week that overcrowding has been a problem for decades in Ireland.
The last prison opened in Ireland was the Midlands Prison in County Laois, which was opened in 2000, at a time when the Republic of Ireland had a population of 3.8 million.
Today, the Republic’s population is over 5.1 million.
In 2005, then-Justice Minister Michael McDowell planned to create a super prison on Spike Island, though the plan never ultimately went ahead. There was also previously a plan to create a super prison at Thornton Hall in north Dublin, with the site being purchased by the government for €50m in the mid-2000s, with the intent of building a prison on the 150-acre site. However, this plan also stalled.
While Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said she is considering building a new prison here, the Prison Officers Association has said this will not happen, and that the Ministers announcement of 670 additional prison spaces over the next several years is a repeat of a promise made last year which failed to materialise.
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He is correct, we can just put him and the rest of them in mountjoy, they will fit in just fine and then we can lower the crime rate by deporting all the illegals, then re-analyze all existing citizenships given to see if the correct process was followed, then revoke and on top of that, all the scammers that got asylum, we can re-assess them to see was the correct process followed too. Great thought process aidan in fairness to ya, now please resign.
No, I’d put them all in a labour camp, on chain gangs. I’d start them of by cutting turf for the people they told couldn’t burn turf. I’d then move them on to filling pot holes on roads around the country. And, to make it interesting, I’d put some violent criminals on the chain gang with them.
That’s not a bad idea along with manually shoving coal into Furnaces of the power plants. Rest assured, when they get voted out, their will be some blood must in the country for them. They are right to be scared.
Bring back horse drawn carts, so we can have the shovel shite all day, too.
Some years ago a Cuban colleague was telling me about the prisons at home. If someone received say a six month sentence, he was assigned certain work that had to be completed during this time. If not completed his sentence was lengthened. This was an incentive for the prisoner to work hard to avoid this. Our President was evidently not taken on a tour of the Cuban prisons while on his state visit nor did they tell him how under Castro they segregated black and white people. My Cuban friend grew up under Castro. He was a well educated science teacher and his father a Communist official so I have no reason to doubt him. Perhaps with more hard labour in prison would reduce the problems and ultimately also the numbers?
I can only imagine them attempting to get six months worth of labour done in six months. Their sentence would never end.
Sorry James… it seems like censorship! only one link this time!
O Riordans plan for Ireland is the same one the lefties rolled out in the blue cities in the U.S. basically make all drugs legal, defund the police, no prison sentence for crime. An absolute disaster. Vote this danger out.
And building hospitals is a misguided approach to healthcare I’m sure.
it is when its left up to ffg ! millions over estimated cost , not enough parking facilities for staff leave alone patients and visitors , wrong location , over run on completion date by years,not weeks or months YEARS !! BUT ITS ALL GOOD , B.A.M. are making a fortune out of it so no doubt are a few ‘well connected’ friends of FFG !!
Yes. I suggest you study terrain theory. Medical profession uses practices to encourage illnesses and their services.
So you can rape rob and plunder and I have to excuse you because your mam slapped you too often?So you have the right to descimate my human rights and I should not expect you to pay a price? Maybe I should give you the keys to my house and my bank details. After you have raped robbed and murdered some a-hole judge will give you 6 years with 3 suspended. This aodhole needs some serious medical intervention. What will happen if his family are violated? <not that I would wish this on anyone> Who are the utter gobshites that vote for such amadans?
Its cheaper to let criminals walk the streets,people to lock themselves inside in their own prisons.Fear is the name of the game……FG FF SF Greens Soc Dem Labour….Never vote this shower of wasters again.
We need Ireland back,hard borders and hard on crime.
It is less expensive to outsource prison space to the Philippines or India for repeat offenders than to build new prisons in Ireland.
There is an empty prison just up the road. Could the government not rent HMP the Maze?.
I still believe every morning I wake up that this is all a bad dream and it never happened. He can talk all the shite he wants, I wouldn’t even call him by his name. This time next year he’ll be a distant nightmare. He’s relying on Coolock and other working class areas for votes next year and like Mary Lou, and the rest they will be gone
He might get Seanad and Junior Minister like Ms Hackett
This nutcase should have been locked up long ago. Probably an insane asylum would be best for him, although it would be cruel to the other inmates. He could spend his years figuring out what made him such a twisted bitter man.
We will need the prison space to house the vast majority of currently serving TDs.
be carefull what ye say lads, micheal martin is not happy if ye spouting out of line with the goverment mantra’s,the whole country is a mess with this goverment they have lost high ground with immigration (uvf throwing their toys out of the pram over the north still in EU and more than likely operating people smuggling gangs via north to south to destabilise the tensr situation down here) will drew harris and police head up their call it out make arrests? and simon harris said last week its all honky dorky with Crown again.thank god i am near coffin box dropping off time .god help next generation. best of luck to them.
Free Barabas!! (to make more room for the far right).
Absolutely donkey of a man.
Oh You Bloody Plonker.
Do we really need to see a full screen image of this fellow on Gript. Perhaps a thumbnail might be considered for the next article?
We’ll need them lad, we’ll need them.
He basically said nothing from what I can see.
What’s your solution to the problem Aidan?
I
On a side note, satans minion said that people who dont subscribe to the climate communism are foolish. https://www.infowars.com/posts/pope-francis-deniers-of-climate-change-are-foolish/
I had a question put to me as to why I call helen tayto and its because she has a special relationship with tayto. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/helen-mcentee-pushed-for-the-reopening-of-tayto-park-in-lockdown-letters-show/41437947.html
Let’s have no prisons…
September 2014, referring to immigration, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said “we do not have limitless resources,” and that “we simply cannot” expect to “provide for the vast number of economic migrants who seek a better life.”
“It would be wrong for us to pretend otherwise,” he added.
This gobshite taking shite, trying to keep himself front and centre as he has put himself up for EU elections,he will spout any auld drivell just to get noticed.
What a dick head.
Good old Omadan,the man who single handedly disproves the old saying that even a stopped clock is right twice a day!
Looking on the bright side: when a criminal is in jail, he’s not targeting society in general.
Heres a thought, round up every foreign criminal, incarcerated or not and deport them ALL, redirect the NGO billions to fund this scheme, freeing up prison space for the criminally corrupt political and judicial class must be the priority!
Ahh, fer fecks sake… this lad is not right in the head.
Broken clock right twice a day. I can’t believe I agree with Aodhán on anything.
Solutions needed, but kidnapping people at great expense is not a good solution.
If the ,&_#: built more prisons they’d be more likely to use them for political opponents like Enoch Burke.
Hard to believe but, for once, O’Riordain makes sense.