IPRT Pre-Budget Submission Budget 2027

28th September 2026

Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has prepared our pre-budget submission for legislators to consider ahead of Budget 2027.

This submission comes against the backdrop of an acute prison overcrowding crisis which worsens year-on-year.  The current prison overcrowding crisis cannot be separated from the nationwide cost-of-living, housing and mental health crises. On any given day in 2026, almost 6,000 people are in prison in a system designed for 4,802, often for non-violent or minor offences that could be better addressed through community-based sanctions. In 2025, 74 per cent of sentenced committals were for sentences of 12 months or less.

People in prison also faces wider social challenges. Many of them experience serious mental health conditions, addiction, homelessness and poverty before committal to prison and may continue to face these challenges on release. 

Prison exerts a significant toll on individuals, their families and wider communities as well as on the State itself. In 2025, the average annual cost of a staffed prison space exceeded €103,000 compared with the average cost of a Community Service Order which was €1,450 in 2024. IPRT is calling for greater investment in prevention, diversion and community sanctions.

Specifically, IPRT Is calling on the Government to strategically invest in four key areas: 

1. Alternatives to imprisonment and community-based sanctions 

•  Increase overall funding for the Probation Service by 10 per cent to operationalise expanded community service and conduct a strategic review to identify where probation supports are most needed 
• Allocate and ring-fence €300,000 of Probation Service funding to cover staffing and operational costs associated with establishing a supported bail service for women

2. Mental health and addiction supports in the criminal justice system 

• Invest €1.4 million in the expansion of the Prison In-reach and Court Liaison Service (PICLS) 
• Allocate at least €200,000 to the Irish Prison Service to conduct a Mental Health and Disability Needs Assessment  
• Allocate €730,000 to ensure the Irish Prison Service can provide adequate addiction services and reduce waiting lists for people in custody 

3. Supports for families and children impacted by imprisonment 

• Allocate €2 million to the Department of Social Protection to ensure access to financial and social welfare supports for people parenting alone when the other parent is imprisoned 

4. Modernising data systems across the criminal justice system 

• Provide an additional €250,000 in funding to criminal justice agencies including the IPS, Probation Service and Parole Board to modernise their respective data systems 

 

Read IPRT's full submission here.