The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has said he does not think there is an overcrowding crisis or immediate issue in relation to the capacity of the prison system.
Michael McDowell today told the Dáil that there were 3,158 people in prison in this country, compared to a bed capacity of 3,392.
Mr McDowell said this represented an occupancy level of 93%.
But the Minister did acknowledge that there was an urgent need to upgrade the existing prison accommodation and to plan for the future and he said he was advancing a number of projects at the moment to this end.
