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 Condemns Israeli Death Penalty Law and Calls for Urgent EU Action
- Building more prisons is not the answer to overcrowding The Irish Penal Reform Trust outlines a more progressive and cost-effective approach
- Prison officers to be issued with body cameras, batons amid rise in violence
- IPRT Submission to the Consultation under Regulation 5(3) of S.I. No. 30 of 2019 on the use of ionising radiation in Irish prisons
- Prison overcrowding group to meet after capacity crisis warning
