Women in Limerick prison are being put in danger – Taoiseach refuses to acknowledge it
Women in Limerick prison are being put in danger - Taoiseach refuses to acknowledge it - The Labour Party
Under questioning in the Dáil today by Labour TD for Limerick City Conor Sheehan, Taoiseach Micheal Martin exposed his failure to engage with the enormous issues in Ireland’s prison system.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“We are witnessing a system overwhelmed by overcrowding, drug abuse, and escalating violence against officers. Yet this Government is failing to even accept this reality. Under questioning by me today, the Taoiseach ducked and dived, rather than outlining what his plan is.
“The women’s prison in Limerick is at 155% capacity. There is a 50% increase in prison deaths. Rather than dealing with the enormous crisis in the system, the Taoiseach failed to engage with the substantive issues I raised with him.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a myriad of supports needed in communities to prevent people falling into the criminal justice system. However, this cannot be a reason to ignore the crisis in our prisons.
“Prisons are overcrowded and underfunded and there seems to be no plan from Government to address this. People from the most deprived areas of Ireland are disproportionately impacted by this. There were 92 overdoses in our prison system last year, nearly 100 people in our prison system died last year due to problematic drug use, it’s simply shocking.
“This dire situation underscores the urgent need for a fundamental change in approach to our justice system. Our prison system is currently not working to prevent re-offending, to protect victims of crime or to keep society safe. Instead, it is marked by pernicious overcrowding. We know in the past that Fine Gael’s answer was to build more prisons. That’s simply missing the point.
“Prison conditions are generally poor with huge overcrowding problems and inadequate conditions. We cannot afford to perpetuate a broken system that only serves to further harm individuals and our community. It’s time for urgent action, not words, from this Taoiseach.”