The Irish Prison Service (IPS) is expected to spend at least €16 million on 30 “modular” apartment-style cells designed to help ease long-serving prisoners back into society.
The “rooms/cells” are being constructed on the grounds of three prisons. When they are completed, they will provide accommodation for 34 inmates on the prisons’ grounds. Most of the cells, which are termed “independent living units (ILUs)”, will be single occupancy.
In 2024, €11,541,695 was spent on the project, or €14,196,660 including VAT, according to figures released following Freedom of Information requests.
The total budget for the project is €15.9 million including VAT. However, the final cost will not be known until at least April.
Regulator sends external officials into Peter McVerry Trust after reports on misgovernance
A Dunnes parcel goes missing, a customer loses €672, and the retailer won’t repay her
An unsettling conversation on the Dart leaves other passengers open-mouthed in amazement
Ringo Starr on holidaying in Ireland: ‘We hopped over on a plane, rented a car and found a little guesthouse for two nights’
This translates to an average of at least €530,000 per unit – significantly more than the construction cost of a private three-bed house, including in the Dublin area.
The project includes ten single-occupancy modular cells being constructed in both Loughan House and Shelton Abbey prisons. In Castlerea Prison, work is ongoing on installing four double-occupancy units and two triple-occupancy units.
The IPS said the project will be completed shortly. However, the modular units will have little impact on prison numbers, which have regularly exceeded the 5,000 mark in recent months, resulting in large numbers of inmates having to sleep on the floor.
As of last Friday Irish prisons housed 4,994 inmates and were at 111 per cent capacity. Watchdogs have repeatedly warned the level of overcrowding is impacting the safety of both prisoners and staff.
These numbers have continued to grow despite increasing numbers of prisoners being granted temporary or early release in response to the crisis.
[ Prison watchdog warns of ‘immense task’ in tackling overcrowding in Irish jailsOpens in new window ]
Other, more drastic, measures considered by justice officials have been rejected, however, including granting early release to sex offenders, renting prison cells in other countries and introducing “waiting lists” for prisons.
A proposal from the IPS to “immediately” reduce court sittings to “stem the flow” of prisoners entering the system was also rejected last year.
In response to queries, an IPS spokesman said the primary goal of the project is to provide step-down facilities for long-serving prisoners to prepare them for reintegration into society.
Any slight benefit in reducing prison numbers is merely a bonus, he said. Prisoners will be able to cook for themselves and maintain their unit “while also interacting with others within a residential accommodation type complex”.
The goal is to provide an “environment that requires personal responsibility similar to what will be needed outside the prison setting”, the IPS said.
“The project, while providing this new accommodation option, will also deliver a much-needed additional 34 spaces which, in addition to other short-term measures in closed prisons, will help alleviate overcrowding across the system.”
The modular units have a lifespan of up to 60 years.
