The era of the "revolving door" at prisons will end in the autumn, when restrictions on early temporary release of prisoners and new bail laws come into effect, the Minister for Justice has said.
Formally opening a new prison in Dublin yesterday, the Republic's first for remand prisoners, Mr O'Donoghue said the State would also extend the categories of offenders who would not be eligible for temporary release because of overcrowding.
At present only drug importers and dealers, armed robbers and sex offenders are refused bail or temporary release.
The Minister said the list would be extended to include those in prison for violence against women and children; serious public order offences which gave "rise to terror, fear and apprehension among our senior citizens and other vulnerable members of the community"; attacks on the elderly; "so-called joy-riding"; and persistent car thieving.
He said the number of prisoners the State could accommodate would increase from about 2,000 to over 3,200 by the end of the year. This would allow the detention of the increased numbers of offenders and reduce the chronic overcrowding in prisons such as Mountjoy.
Mr O'Donoghue again spoke of his "zero tolerance" crime policy, saying the State would no longer grant automatic temporary release to prisoners on remand for a growing category of offences.
He predicted that within the next year the overcrowding crisis in the prison service would end. "It is 20 years or so since we were last at that point," he said.
The Cloverhill Remand Prison which the Minister officially opened yesterday can hold 450 prisoners. Another major new prison, the Midlands Prison at Portlaoise, will hold 515.
Mr O'Donoghue said that in the past three years crime rates had fallen by a "cumulative" 25 per cent. One of the major contributory factors had been the ability of the prison system to reduce the number of "unplanned" releases because of overcrowding by 50 per cent.