Up to 10 additional bed spaces to come onstream at Cork Prison

Up to 10 additional bed spaces are to come onstream at Cork Prison, with new cells to be constructed at the existing prison facility.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said earlier this week that the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has a continuous rolling capital plan in place for 2025, with an associated funding envelope of €53m.

The minister told Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon that the 2025 projects include the delivery of over 100 spaces across Cork, Castlerea, the Dóchas Centre, Limerick, Midlands, and Mountjoy.

With reference to Cork, a spokesperson for the IPS told The Echo it is working on “a small capital project to provide accommodation for up to an additional 10 prisoners within the existing prison by reconfiguring areas into living accommodation”.

“The costs for the works will be established following a tender exercise to be conducted in the coming weeks,” they said.

The latest available figures from last Friday showed there were 341 people in custody in Cork Prison, which has a capacity of 296 — meaning 45 people were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and that more than one in four cells have more people in them than intended.

Speaking to The Echo, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North Central Pádraig O’Sullivan said that any extra capacity was good news.

“This is very welcome as a short-term respite for the continuing capacity issues at the prison,” he said.

“Ultimately, a mix of solutions is required here, including an increase in capacity, looking at possible day releases for low-level offenders, reviewing how we do pre-trial detention, and ultimately investing in long-term strategies that improve crime prevention.”

The development comes amid discussions about re-opening the old Cork Prison, with a feasibility study on the issue completed last October, at which time the IPS told The Echo that a decision on it was expected to be made “in the coming weeks”.

Almost six months later, no update is available on the old facility, and it is unclear whether the decision to extend the current prison building means the IPS is moving away from the idea of reusing the old facility.

The former Cork Prison closed in 2016 as it was deemed to be not fit for purpose and did not have in-cell sanitation.

At the time, the IPS said facility was “in poor physical state and unsuitable for use in its current form”.