Saoirse Brady speaks to News at One in an interview given as part of coverage of Irish Prisons Annual Report 2024 Saoilaunch
4th September 2025
In the interview, Saoirse highlighted that:
- Prison must be the sanction of last resort;
- Current overcrowding levels and the use of mattresses on floors are an unacceptable breach of human dignity;
- With 77% of sentences 12 months or less, prison appears to be overused for less serious offences.
- At nearly €100,000 per prison place per year, this approach comes at enormous financial and human cost.
Saoirse emphasised that we cannot build our way out of this crisis. Instead, Ireland must rebalance investment into:
Related items:
- IPRT Statement on publication of Five Deaths in Custody Reports
- IPRT Statement on Death in Custody Investigation Report Mr. J (Ivan Rosney) Cloverhill Prison 28 September 2020
- RTÉ Investigates: The Psychiatric Care Scandal
- Press Release: IPRT Responds to Follow-Up Inspection reports by Office of the Inspector of Prisons - Cloverhill and Mountjoy Prisons
- Government Action Urged On Prison Conditions - Midlands 103 FM
