Address by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform Mr. Dermot Ahern T.D., at the Prison Officers’ Association Conference Killarney, Kerry

29 April, 2010

Mr. President, Distinguished Guests, Delegates,

I would like to thank you for your kind invitation to address your annual conference. There is no doubt that our country is going through an exceptionally difficult and challenging time.

As a people, we have had to make extremely difficult and unprecedented decisions to address this reality. These decisions are painful. They have led to pay cuts. They have led to spending cuts. But they are necessary and unavoidable. None of us in the public service like to see our pay cut. But we just cannot go on borrowing for day-to-day expenditure. Because  thousands of our friends, neighbours and relatives have lost their jobs. And the only way to help them back to work is to secure the national finances, and to secure the recovery.

As you know the Moratorium on recruitment and promotions in the public service has also impacted on the prison system during the year. I have worked with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, to minimise the impact on the prison system to the greatest extent possible and I am glad to say that we have been able to recruit significant numbers of staff during the year.

For example, in 2009, 122 Recruit Prison Officers joined the Prison Service and  a  further 23 recruits have joined in 2010. Even though times are very difficult, I am  committed to securing the necessary resources to run the prison system.

Numbers in Custody

There is no doubting the case that there has been a consistent increase in the  total  prisoner population over recent years. This situation is particularly apparent over the  past 2 years during which time the total number in custody has increased by 735. This represents over 21.5% of a rise in the number in custody.

The increase in numbers is the result of a number of external factors including:

•     Increased Garda activity due to an increase in Garda numbers,

•     Increased Courts sittings, and

•     Longer custodial sentences.

The Irish Prison Service has been engaged in an extensive programme of investment in prisons infrastructure which has involved both the modernisation  of  the existing estate and the provision of extra prison spaces.

Since 1997 in excess of 1,720 new prison spaces have come on stream in the prison  system. These include the new prisons in Castlerea, the Midlands, Cloverhill, the Dóchas Centre and new accommodation in Limerick, Portlaoise and Castlerea prisons and at the open centres in Shelton Abbey and Loughan House.

More recently the re-opening of the Separation Unit in Mountjoy provided an additional 50 spaces. Current projects will see a further 200 prison spaces provided in the short term by means of a new block in Wheatfield.

In addition, work is expected to commence in late 2010 on a new accommodation  block in the Portlaoise/Midlands prisons complex which will provide 300 prison spaces.

The Government is also fully committed to developing a new prison campus at Thornton Hall, County Dublin. Thornton will be a campus development with approximately 1,400 cells on a 130 acre site.

The new prison facility will have operational flexibility to accommodate up to 2,200 in a range of security settings.

The  development  is  now  proceeding  on  a  phased  basis  with phase one comprising  essential enabling works required for the development including the  construction of the dedicated access road, perimeter wall and off-site services.

Tenders for the construction of the access road issued in March of this year  and  a  tender competition will commence during the summer for the construction  of  the  perimeter wall of the prison. It is intended to invite tenders for the construction of the main prison development later this year.

Expanding prisoner accommodation at this time is, of course, made all the more difficult by the overall financial situation.

A further €3 billion of adjustments will be required in the next budget. €1 billion of  this is likely to come from capital expenditure and the remaining €2 billion will have to be achieved through reductions in the cost of public services and through taxation.

The reality is that there will be less money available for public services into the medium term. We must live with this fact and plan accordingly. The challenge  therefore becomes even more difficult; it is about maximising efficiencies, making  best use of our resources across all areas of the justice system and ultimately  achieving more with less. For that reason it is necessary that we examine critically how we currently operate the prison system and transform the way we deliver services to ensure they are as efficient and effective as possible.

I  believe  that the agreement reached last month at Croke Park provides us with the  foundations for achieving this transformation. Implementing that agreement would involve changing how the prison system operates. I know that you have decided today not to recommend this deal to you members. I believe that a decision by your members to reject this deal in their ballot would be in no ones best interest. The deal agreed at Croke Park is, I believe, the best and fairest way forward for everyone; your staff and the public we all serve.

The agreement would allow us to move towards a more efficient service while at the  same  time allowing us to lay greater emphasis on a more comprehensive management of prisoner’s sentences and prisoner rehabilitation.

There are progressive regimes operating in other European jurisdictions, from which I believe there is much we can learn. The changes that would flow out of the agreement would provide a sustainable basis for the Irish Prison Service going forward as it continues to expand and grow. As I have said, we simply cannot plan on the basis of resources we do not have.

I understand the sense of anger and frustration felt by members of the Public Service, but the reality is that the resources to continue as heretofore simply do not exist. You  were not  responsible for the international financial crisis or the difficult position of  the exchequer finances,  however, in the current circumstances an agreement that offers stability of pay and pension for a four year period  is, in my view, a good deal. 

I want to thank you for the kind invite to be here with you today. As Minister,  on  behalf of the Irish people, I want thank you for your hard work and undoubted commitment.