The Minister for Justice is planning a major expansion of the probation and welfare service, which would mean many people being sent to prison could instead be involved in rehabilitation work.
Mr O'Donoghue is also considering the establishment of special drugs courts, he said in an interview with The Irish Times.
The Minister said he had established a probation service review group to examine how best to develop alternatives to jail as part of his general overhaul of the criminal justice system. This included the establishment of the courts service, a review of the Garda and setting up an independent prisons authority in 1998.
His most radical proposal is to shift a significant number of offenders, especially young drug-addict offenders, from imprisonment to rehabilitation in the community through an expanded probation and welfare service.
Alternatives to prison had been discussed before, but always in a vacuum, he said, acknowledging that prison did not in itself offer a solution to crime. There were always some people who would require incarceration, but there were others who would benefit from supervision outside prison.
"Social inclusion must mean the integration of young offenders especially," he said. "The probation and welfare service may well concentrate on young offenders." It could also be of great benefit to women offenders, the majority of whom, even if addicted to drugs, did not commit violent crimes.
Mr O'Donoghue said there would be an additional 2,000 prison places within the next two years, and another 1,000 in the lifetime of the Government. This would end the revolving-door system, and the contents of the bail referendum, passed a year ago, could be signed into law.
He would like to see the establishment of special drugs courts, similar to those in some US states. He had asked the chairwoman of the Working Group on the Courts Commission, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, to investigate them.
He praised her work on the working group and said the courts service, combined with a huge investment in information technology, would bring the courts "from the 19th to the 21st century". This includes an investment of £4.6 million in 1998 for computerising the courts, an increase of £3 million on this year.
The structure would mean integration of information across the entire justice system, including the Garda, the courts, the prisons and the probation and welfare service. ail question about sentencing or when an individual is due for release, we can access that information rather than trawling all over the countryside with pieces of paper," he said. He thought Asked if this would be available to the public and the press, he said an information desk and information officer had been introduced into the Four Courts this year. It was up to the courts service to decide if it would have a press and information office.
Would greater availability of information about legal procedures and sentencing reduce the need to get the advice of solicitors? "Like the poor, they'll always be with us, but there will be a greater degree of certainty about predictability. It will enhance the legal profession's ability to advise its clients."
Granting independent status to the prisons, courts and gardai and expanding the probation and welfare service would greatly change the work and the culture of the Department of Justice.
"People want more openness and accountability in relation to their money. Within the Department there is a great willingness to change. The number of procedures that have to be followed here runs into four figures. The devolution of powers will allow for a far greater level of effectiveness and free up Department officials to direct policy overall rather than be involved in operational and administrative matters."
Some of this work was begun by his predecessors, he acknowledged, but he intended to leave his mark in the form of a total overhaul of the criminal justice system. He would like to do more, but admitted he did not have the resources or staff.