THE Minister for Justice is likely to seek more money for additional prison places in response to the controversy over the early release of prisoners.
Ms Owen has received a report on prison accommodation which is understood to recommend the reinstatement of the £25 million prison at Castlerea, Co Roscommon.
The Castlerea project was stopped last July by Government budget cuts after a £5 million perimeter wall was completed. It is believed a committee of civil servants which received submissions on Castlerea and other prison accommodation issues has recommended the project be restarted.
However, it is thought the new prison might be scaled down from 150 cells to 120. The Castlerea prison might also be used for accommodating the growing prison population of sex offenders.
A Department of Justice spokeswoman yesterday confirmed Ms Owen received the interim report from a committee before Christmas, set up to inquire into the early release system and prison accommodation needs.
The committee of senior civil servants from the Departments of Finance and Justice was directed by Ms Owen to take into consideration the effects of the deferment of the Castlerea prison and of the paramilitary ceasefires on prison accommodation needs.
Some 36 IRA prisoners were released early from Portlaoise Prison last year and only 25 remain. This has allowed additional space to be available in the State's highest security institution for dangerous criminals.
However, the State is also seeking the transfer of around 20 IRA prisoners from English jails and they would probably have to be accommodated in Portlaoise. The lack of prison space means many prisoners are released after serving only about half their sentences.
Between 300 and 500 prisoners are officially on "temporary release" at any given time and a further 1,000 or so are "unlawfully at large". This last figure, however, includes a substantial number who received short sentences or who had completed the bulk of their sentences and had not returned to prison after receiving temporary release. The State has prison places for just over 2,000 prisoners.
The spokeswoman said that, of the 390 prisoners who have received Christmas parole, about 30 had not yet returned to prison.
Prison sources said about 10 per cent of prisoners who received Christmas leave return to prison late each year and this year was no exception.
Among those who failed to return to prison was John Francis McAllister (42), who was one of a gang which robbed and beat to death a German tourist, Georg Plappert, in Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1991. McAllister received an eight year sentence for robbing Mr Plappert's companion.