MICHAEL O’REGAN

Very violent people had to be locked up in prison, Independent TD Finian McGrath told the Dáil in a debate on penal reform.

“That is the reality and we have to face up to it,’’ he added.

He said he did not buy the line that all children who came from poor communities got involved in crime.

“I know that from working in a disadvantaged school for 25 years,’’ he added. “There was about 80 per cent of the children who came from backgrounds economically disadvantaged who never got into trouble ever.’’

Mr McGrath said there was about 15 to 20 per cent who had “personal, dysfunctional family issues’’, which played a part in the hurt, defiance and the anger which they exhibited. There was a need, he said, for early prevention to be strongly emphasised in crime prevention.

Mr McGrath said he agreed with a report from the Oireachtas Committee on Justice that there was a need for aftercare for prisoners if they were to integrate into the community when they left prison.

He said a proposal on community courts was excellent.

Introducing the report, committee chairman Cork Fine Gael TD David Stanton said many witnesses who came before the committee were critical of what they considered to be short sentences.

“They said they do not work and that people emerging from prison are more criminalised than previously and have less incentive not to reoffend or to manage their lifestyle,’’ he added.

Mr Stanton said Cork prison was one of the "most appalling places'' he had ever been in.

“Thankfully a new prison is being built in Cork,’’ he added. “The pressure on the prison officers and the prisoners was palpable.’’

Minister of State at the Deprtment of Justice Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald’s view was that a specific target for reducing prison numbers should not be set as ultimate there were many factors which must be taken into account.

These included the rate of crime, public safety and the independence of courts in making sentencing decisions, he said.