Garda Immigration Bureau leaving deportees in overcrowded prisons

A detention centre specifically for people facing deportation may be considered, after it emerged the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) is leaving detainees at overcrowded prisons without prior consultation.

Gary Gannon, the Social Democrats’ justice spokesman, described the bureau’s actions as “extraordinary”, according to The Irish Times.

He highlighted prison overcrowding at Mountjoy women’s prison, the Dóchas Centre, which was operating at 153 per cent capacity last week.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan confirmed there were 223 women in custody in Mountjoy at the time, 29 of whom were on mattresses. The centre’s bed capacity is 146.

Expressing concern at the overcrowding, the Minister said there are plans to build another 65 spaces across the prison system in 2026, 26 of which will be new spaces for the Dóchas Centre. This, he confirmed, would increase capacity to 172.

O’Callaghan did not believe “prisons are the solution to all of the ills of society”, instead saying a “combined approach” was needed, The Irish Times reported.

He said the Probation Service would this year provide over €21 million in funding to 60 community organisations to cover the costs of providing services and programmes.

He stressed “an awful lot of work” was being done to “facilitate women in availing of supervised temporary release”.

Raising the issue of prisoner numbers in the Dáil last week, Gannon said the GNIB “is showing up at overcrowded prisons to place people into them without any consultation with the prison guards”.

The Dublin Central TD said: “That is extraordinary and it is happening on the Minister’s watch.”