18th April 2024
IPRT joined politicians, researchers in criminology and criminal justice, and people in the community sector in adding our name to an open letter proposing we adopt evidence-based alternatives to prison expansion in Ireland. The letter was published in the Irish Times.
16th April 2024
IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, joined Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward on RTÉ Radio 1 for the Today with Claire Byrne show to discuss sentencing, minimum jail terms, and parole.
15th April 2024
Irish Legal News reported on a letter sent by IPRT to Simon Harris urging the new Taoiseach to tackle “the root causes of offending” instead of focusing on “harsher penalties and prison expansion”.
6th April 2024
On 6 April 2024, the Leinster Express reported that despite allocating €49.5 million up to 2026 for work to help provide ‘dignity of care’ in prisons, the practice of slopping out looks set to continue in Portlaoise Prison. IPRT called the practice inhumane and degrading.
25th March 2024
On RTÉ Radio 1, Today with Claire Byrne show, RTÉ reporter Brian O'Connell spoke to IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, about the number of prisoners on remand in our prisons increasing.
26th February 2024
On Newstalk Breakfast, IPRT Executive Director Saoirse Brady responded to reports on the pilot project to train prisoners to retrofit homes being underway at two prisons and spoke about the secondary punishment that people with convictions can face when trying to find employment.
20th February 2024
IPRT comments in the RTÉ story covering the report by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) which has highlighted that mental health care needs are not being fully or satisfactorily met in any of the seven prisons it inspected, with conditions repeatedly being described as "degrading".
20th February 2024
The Irish Examiner writes about the publication of a report by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) Thematic Inspection: An Evaluation of the Provision of Psychiatric Care in the Irish Prison System February – March 2023. IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, responds.
19th February 2024
IPRT discusses the issues with finding work with convictions and employer attitudes to people with convictions after IPRT launched a report "The Secondary Punishment".
15th February 2024
People who have served a prison sentence for a criminal offence are entitled to believe that once the sentence is completed they have paid their debt to society. That does not appear to be the case. New research shows that there are huge barriers to ex-prisoners finding employment and that the past simply won’t leave them alone. Damien Quinn was one such person, who had to fight hard to rebuild his life once he finished his sentence. He and Irish Penal Reform Trust Executive Director Saoirse Brady are this week’s guests on the podcast.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.