The 1996 bail referendum terms and the ending of the so-called "revolving door" system of early temporary release for prisoners will be in place by the autumn, the Minister for Justice has said.
Speaking at the opening of the State's first prison specifically built 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 were refused bail or temporary release.
He said the list would be extended to include those in prison for violence against women and children; serious public order offences which give "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 theft.
The prison capacity would increase from around 2,000 to over 3,200 by the end of this year to allow the detention of the increased numbers of offenders and reduce the chronic overcrowding in prisons such as Mountjoy.
"The key issue here, of course, is that the era of unplanned release which arose primarily because of the overcrowding is being brought to an end," he added.
The State was increasing re sources to the Probation Service to provide better supervision of released offenders and was examining new forms of "custody alternatives" such as the concept of "restorative justice" where offenders are made to pay for the damage they have caused.
"We are greatly increasing our capacity as a society to manage in a much more effective and humane way than heretofore those offenders who require supervision in the community and those who in the interests of community safety and security require a custodial sanction," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue again spoke of his "zero tolerance" policy on crime, saying the State would no longer grant automatic temporary release to prisoners on remand for a lengthening category of offences.
The cumulative effect of recent criminal justice measures, put in place over the past four or five years, already meant there had been a 25 per cent drop in crime rates within a three-year period.
Mr O'Donoghue foresaw a situation within the next year where there was no longer a crisis in the prison service. "It is 20 years or so since we were last at that point." The prison service was "at the dawn of an era of radical change and transformation".
"An efficient, well run, well managed and properly resourced prisons system is a key element underpinning an effective criminal justice system in which our community can retain its confidence," he said.
"For far too long, we have witnessed the spectre of some prisoners serving a fraction of their sentences because there was no place to accommodate them. "If the integrity of our criminal justice system is to be preserved this has to stop."
He said it was for this reason the Government had decided to embark on the biggest prison-building project since the foundation of the State. As well as the Cloverhill Remand Prison, which the Minister officially opened yesterday, and which hold 450 prisoners, there is another major new prison, the Midlands Prison, at Portlaoise which will hold 515 prisoners.
Together with the prison opened last year at Castlerea, Co Roscommon, a new "C" wing at Limerick Prison, the new women's prison at Mountjoy and refurbishment of Mountjoy men's prison, the overall inmate population will rise from around 2,000 to 3,200.
He said that in the past three years crime rates had fallen by a "cumulative" 25 per cent. One of the major contributory factors to this had been the ability of the prison system to reduce the number of "unplanned" releases because of overcrowding by 50 per cent.
Referring to the implementation of the 1996 referendum provisions on bail, in which the constitutional automatic right to bail for all offences was withdrawn, Mr O'Donoghue said he had been unable to sign the Bail Act of 1997 into law because it would have meant releasing sentenced prisoners.
The opening of Cloverhill and the new Midlands Prison later this year would greatly alter the situation in that respect, he said. "I am confident that I can bring the Bail Act into force in the last quarter of the year.
"I have do doubt that the bringing of the Act into force will also impact positively in our communities as the courts will have the option of refusing bail to those whom they consider likely to commit offences while on bail."