'Don't treat locals as fools, this is a prison, not an extension' says Cork TD

Describing the planned 330 new prison spaces for Cork as an 'extension', rather than an entirely new prison, is a betrayal of the local people, who 'aren't fools', a local TD has said.

Work on the new Cork prison spaces, on the site of the former prison, is to start early next year, and the project could be completed a year earlier than planned, the justice minister has said.

But Fianna Fáil TDs' insistence on calling the plan an 'extension' of the current prison has angered Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould.

The plans, he added, represented a betrayal of the locals who had been promised in 2016 that the old building would never again be used as a prison.

“It is beyond disappointing that Fianna Fáil are so determined to build a second prison in the Glen without doing any community consultation first," he said.

“They can call it an expansion all they want, but a separate building, on a separate site, is a separate prison. The people aren’t fools. If you build a second full-sized house in your back garden, that’s not an extension or expansion of your existing house. It is a new house.”

Minister Jim O’Callaghan has announced the plans as part of a project to deliver over 1,500 prison spaces across Ireland by 2031.

Cork _rison has been consistently overcrowded since 2023, with 415 people in custody on Friday despite its 304-bed capacity. It reached a record of 430 people incarcerated there earlier this year, and is frequently the most overcrowded men’s prison in Ireland.

Figures provided by the Irish Prison Service (IPS) last week showed that Cork Prison had the highest number of prisoner-on-prisoner attacks of any Irish prison last year, with 227 incidents, up 68% from 135 in 2024.

Fianna Fáil’s Pádraig O’Sullivan received an update on the proposal to increase capacity when he raised “ongoing and worsening overcrowding” in Cork Prison in the Dáil.

“It is a serious occupational health and safety issue for all the staff. Overcrowded landings, people sleeping on floors, limited sightlines and cramped shared spaces significantly increase the risk of violence, assault and disorder, while also making routine duties more dangerous and stressful for staff,” he said.

“Prison officers in Cork are being asked to maintain order, safety and discipline in conditions that fall well short of what would be regarded as acceptable in any other public service workplace. Staff cannot be expected to carry this burden indefinitely.” 

He asked Mr O’Callaghan to commit to a substantial extension to address the situaiton.

“I refer to it as an 'extension' because many of our opponents in the opposition would contend that we are trying to land a second prison on top of people.” He added that an extension to the prison should benefit the community.

The minister said that the national €495m building project will include “a large extension to the existing Cork Prison on the site of the old, decommissioned prison”, providing spaces for approximately 100 women and 230 men.

“The former Cork Prison ceased to operate as an operational prison in February 2016 but the site provides an opportunity for the Prison Service to extend.

“As the project progresses, there will, of course, be community engagement as part of the planning process. I hope that consideration will also be given to community benefit.” 

Mr O’Sullivan said he was hoping the project could be delivered faster, as the minister said he hoped it would be completed in advance of 2031 and possibly finished "in the latter part of this decade.”