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IPRT Newsletter – July 2026

Message from IPRT Executive Director  

As we pass the midpoint of the year, IPRT is taking stock of our progress and planning for the months ahead in our work towards a more just, humane, and effective criminal justice system. The first half of the year has brought important developments across our research, advocacy, and engagement, and we look forward to expanding our work — as well as our team — in the coming months.   

Unfortunately, this quarter has brought developments of significant concern. IPRT stood with colleagues across the legal and human‑rights sector to oppose proposed reforms to criminal legal aid that would introduce a flat‑fee model. Access to independent legal advice is fundamental to protecting the rights of people before the courts who often face poverty, addiction, homelessness, mental‑health challenges or other forms of disadvantage. 

We also note the signing of the International Protection Bill, which introduces measures — including child detention and reduced access to legal advice — that raise serious human‑rights issues. The unified response from organisations and communities over the past year has been vital, and collective advocacy will remain essential in protecting the rights and dignity of people seeking safety.  

On a more positive note, IPRT welcomes recent steps to strengthen family contact for people in prison — an issue IPRT has consistently highlighted as central to rehabilitation and reintegration. This quarter, the Irish Prison Service announced a three‑month pilot of in‑cell inbound phone calls in the Dóchas Centre and the Mountjoy Training Unit. The pilot will allow people in custody to receive up to two ten‑minute calls per day from approved family or friends, offering a more flexible and humane way to stay connected. It also has the potential to support more meaningful connection, reduce stress for families, and provide valuable learning ahead of any wider rollout. 

As a proud member of the Irish Coalition for Drug Reform, which advocates for a health‑led approach to drug policy, IPRT welcomed the final report launched by the Joint Committee on Drugs Use. If implemented, its pragmatic, evidence-informed recommendations could be transformative for so many people who come into contact with the criminal justice system. 

 
Further detail on these issues, along with updates on our advocacy engagement, recent Traveller Justice Initiative activity, and our work with European counterparts, is included later in this newsletter. 

Finally, I am delighted to share that President Catherine Connolly has accepted our invitation to become Patron of IPRT. Her commitment to being a President for all the people — especially those who are excluded or without a voice — aligns closely with our mission. Her support will provide hope and inspiration for people in prison, those in the community with lived experience of the justice system, and their families. We are deeply grateful for her empathy, compassion, and understanding of the complex issues facing people in the justice system, and we look forward to working together towards a just and humane Ireland where prison is truly a last resort. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Michael D. Higgins, our former patron for his steadfast and continued support for many years and wish him all the best in his next chapter.

Is mise le meas, 
Saoirse Brady
Executive Director

President Connolly joins IPRT as Patron

IPRT is truly honoured that President Catherine Connolly has accepted our invitation to become our Patron. We believe our work closely aligns with her vision to be a President for all the people, especially for those often excluded or without a voice. Knowing that the President of Ireland is Patron of IPRT will provide hope and inspiration for so many people behind high prison walls, those in the community with lived experience of the criminal justice system and their families. 

We thank the President for her empathy, compassion and understanding of many of the complex issues facing people in the justice system and her focus on treating everyone fairly and with dignity. Together we look forward to realising our vision of a just humane Ireland where prison is truly a last resort. 

Criminal Legal Aid Reform: IPRT Raises Concerns

Left to right: Dr Shane McCarthy, Chair of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, Liam Herrick, IHREC, Eilis Barry, FLAC, Rosemary Loftus, President of the Law Society, Sean Guerin SC, Chair of The Bar of Ireland and Saoirse Brady, IPRT.  

IPRT joined colleagues from the Law Society of Ireland, The Bar of Ireland, IHREC, ICCL and FLAC at the Criminal Courts of Justice in late June to raise shared concerns about the introduction of a flat‑fee payment model for criminal legal aid. Ahead of the press conference, IPRT Executive Director Saoirse Brady emphasised that people who come into contact with the criminal justice system are often among the most vulnerable in society — facing poverty, addiction, homelessness, mental health challenges and other forms of disadvantage — and that access to independent legal advice and representation is essential to protecting their rights and ensuring fair outcomes. Any reform, she noted, must strengthen the right to access justice, not erode it. 

As part of our wider advocacy efforts, IPRT wrote to the Minister for Justice outlining serious concerns about the proposed reform of the District Court Criminal Legal Aid Scheme. Our letter warned that replacing the fee‑per‑appearance model with a flat fee would cap the level of representation available to accused people and risk undermining fair trial rights. It also highlighted the disproportionate impact on vulnerable defendants and the pressures on already overstretched defence solicitors. We urged meaningful engagement with practitioners before any reforms proceed. Read the letter here. 

IPRT statement on the Joint Committee on Drugs Use report

IPRT and the Irish Coalition for Drug Reform welcomed the publication of the Joint Committee on Drugs Use’s comprehensive and evidence‑informed final report, which received cross‑party support. The Committee is clear that drug use, addiction, poverty, trauma and social exclusion cannot be resolved through punishment or by drawing people into a criminal justice system that does not meet their underlying health and social needs. 

The report recommends decriminalising simple possession for personal use through the repeal of s.3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, alongside 160 further proposals to expand treatment access, strengthen community supports, introduce alternatives to short prison sentences, and progress a genuinely health‑led approach. While politically significant — and aligned with the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use — these recommendations are not binding, and any legislative change now depends on Government action. 

This is a life‑and‑death issue, and IPRT urges the Government to act swiftly on the report’s pragmatic recommendations. IPRT Executive Director Saoirse Brady discussed the report on Today with David McCullagh, linked here.  

Inbound Phone Pilot Begins in Dóchas and Training Unit

IPRT has long highlighted the importance of maintaining strong family contact for people in prison and has consistently called for measures that make it easier for families to stay connected. We therefore welcome the announcement that the Irish Prison Service will begin a three‑month pilot of in‑cell inbound phone calls in the Dóchas Centre and the Mountjoy Training Unit from 15 June 2026. 

Under the pilot, people in custody will be able to receive up to two ten‑minute calls per day from family or friends already listed on their approved outbound phone panel. Strengthening family contact is one of the most effective ways to support stability, rehabilitation and reintegration. As Executive Director Saoirse Brady noted in a conversation on RTE's Morning Ireland radio programme, many women in the Dóchas Centre are mothers and primary caregivers, and limited contact with their children can have long‑lasting impacts.  

Inbound calls will be available during lock‑up hours and routed directly to cells with the necessary infrastructure. Calls will be recorded for security reasons, and the system will operate as a privilege linked to the disciplinary process. Callers will need the person’s PIMS number and must phone from a number already registered on the outbound system. 

This pilot has the potential to support more meaningful connection, reduce stress for families, and provide valuable learning ahead of any wider rollout across the prison estate.  

TJI Welcomes 2026 Prison Ethnicity Census

The Traveller Justice Initiative (TJI), hosted by IPRT, welcomes the commitment of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and the Irish Red Cross to undertake a census of the ethnicity of everyone in custody across the prison estate on 22 July 2026. 

The last ethnicity census was carried out in 2018 as part of a wider programme of work led by the TJI to strengthen ethnic data collection within the IPS. This included commissioning Ethnic Identifiers in Irish Prisons (2017), delivering training to IPS staff by Pavee Point, and introducing a commitment to record ethnicity at committal and again during post‑committal interviews with Integrated Sentence Managers. 

The 2018 census demonstrated the importance of accurate data. The number of people recorded as identifying as Irish Travellers on the Prison Information Management System (PIMS) increased from 217 to 414, representing 10 per cent of the prison population at that time. IPS data for June 2026 shows 468 people identifying as Irish Travellers, or eight per cent of the current population of 5,924. Given changes since 2018 and ongoing concerns about accuracy, a further census is timely to ensure prison records reflect the ethnic identities of those in custody. 

Even current figures highlight the stark over‑representation of Irish Travellers in prison. Travellers comprise less than one per cent of the general population yet account for roughly one in twelve people in custody — reflecting wider structural inequalities including discrimination, poverty, educational disadvantage, poor health outcomes, homelessness, trauma, and unequal access to employment. 

Accurate ethnicity data is essential to understanding these inequalities and informing evidence‑based policy. The 2026 census will support the IPS in identifying unmet needs, monitoring equality of outcomes, planning culturally appropriate services, and meeting its obligations under the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty. It will also strengthen the evidence base for sustained investment in culturally competent prison services and Traveller‑led interventions aimed at reducing over‑representation.        

A positive step for Travellers in the Justice System 

IPRT’s Traveller Justice Initiative contributed to the development of the Probation Service’s new Working with Travellers: Priority Actions 2026–2028, launched during Traveller Pride Week. With Travellers representing less than one per cent of the population but six per cent of the Probation caseload and 13.5 per cent of clients under 18, the plan marks an important step toward more culturally competent, fair and responsive practice. 

The leadership of Anne Costello, TJI Programme Co‑ordinator, and Traveller justice advocate Anne Marie Sweeney, whose lived experience has been central to shaping this work, was particularly significant. If fully resourced and implemented, the plan has real potential to strengthen trust, improve engagement, and ensure Traveller clients receive the respectful, supportive service they deserve.
 

(Pictured Left to Right: Dr. Jane Mulcahy PhD, the Probation Service, Anne Costello, TJI Coordinator, IPRT, Anne-Marie Sweeney, Traveller Justice Advocate and Fíona Ní Chinnéide, Deputy Director at the Probation Service)

IPRT’s Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, and Traveller Justice Initiative Coordinator, Anne Costello, met with Liz Canavan, Assistant Secretary General in the Department of Taoiseach and Dr Anna Visser, Head of the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office to discuss support for Traveller mothers in the criminal justice system, alongside recent IPRT reports From Punishment to Prevention and Paying the Price. The meeting highlighted clear links with child poverty and wider social policy, and underscored the need for evidence‑informed, community‑based supports. Discussion also covered the experiences of children with a parent in prison, young people in the youth justice system, the overrepresentation of Travellers, and the role of justice reinvestment in shifting resources away from imprisonment toward interventions that work.

Advocacy Engagement

Engagement with Minister Dara Calleary TD

Saoirse Brady and Niamh McCormack met Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary TD to discuss our recent reports — From Punishment to Prevention and Paying the Price — which set out how poverty and criminal justice are deeply intertwined. Both reports show how imprisonment can compound disadvantage for individuals, families, and communities. 

It was encouraging to hear the Minister acknowledge the role his Department can play in supporting people affected by the criminal justice system. Our discussion focused on several key areas where change would make a real difference: 

• Access to One Parent Family Payment during the first six months of the other parent’s imprisonment. 
• Barriers to Guardian’s Payment for kinship carers, including the requirement to declare parental abandonment. 
• Travel costs for prison visits and the need for an Assisted Prison Visits Scheme. 
• Ensuring the Roadmap for Social Inclusion addresses poverty and criminal justice from a preventative and post‑release perspective. 
• The role of income adequacy in reducing survival crime and reoffending. 

We look forward to working with the Minister and his Department to advance these issues and deliver meaningful, practical reforms.

IPRT Highlighting Alternatives to Large-Scale Prison Expansion at the Oireachtas 

IPRT was invited by Senator Aubrey McCarthy to the AV Room in Leinster House to brief Oireachtas members on the issue of small-scale detention houses, alongside partners from RELEASE Phillip Larragy, Jay Bobinac, and advocates with lived experience of the prison system Damien Quinn and Ruthanne Barry. As part of the panel, IPRT's Legal and Public Affairs Manager, Niamh McCormack spoke about the current overcrowding crisis in Irish prisons, and the need to embrace alternative solutions to building large scale prison infrastructure, such as small-scale detention houses.
 

IPRT Engagement with European Counterparts

FRAME Project - Visit to Ireland

In June, IPRT’s Saoirse Brady, Niamh McCormack and Martha Lewis were delighted to welcome Susana Maretti and Patrizio Gonnella from Antigone for a study visit to Ireland as part of the FRAME project, which examines how the monitoring of small-scale detention houses can be incorporated into national and European monitoring frameworks.  

Over the course of two days, the group visited the Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy, the Outlook programme by Focus Ireland, Shelton Abbey – one of Ireland’s two open prisons – and Tiglin in Greystones. They also had the opportunity to meet with Paula Kearney, a FRAME Advisory Board member and BRIO Coordinator with the SAOL Project, and Michelle Martyn, Lead Inspector for the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, to discuss monitoring frameworks and small-scale detention, and the Irish penal context.

2.Left to right: Niamh McCormack, IPRT, Martha Lewis IPRT, Paula Kearney, SAOL,  Susana Maretti, Antigone, Patrizio Gonnella, Antigone and Michelle Martyn, OIP.

IPRT at European Symposium on Detention Houses in Tirana 

IPRT attended the European Symposium on Detention Houses in Tirana, joining partners from across Europe to explore small‑scale, community‑integrated alternatives to traditional prisons. Our Legal and Public Affairs Manager, Niamh McCormack, moderated a panel on implementing detention houses sustainably, emphasising that real reform must link justice with health, housing and education. The event, hosted by RESCALED, highlighted growing momentum for more humane, evidence‑based models of detention.
                               

IPRT responds in the Irish Times: Rethinking Prison Capacity 

In a recent letter published in The Irish Times, IPRT challenged the narrative that prison capacity should rise in line with population growth. While welcoming the Minister for Justice’s recognition of the need to expand community‑based sanctions, IPRT sets out clear evidence that population growth does not explain the scale of Ireland’s overcrowding crisis, with the prison population rising more than twice as fast as the general population since 2016. 

The letter highlighted how new prison spaces, including the newest prison in Ireland Limerick Women’s Prison, filled almost immediately, reinforcing long‑established evidence that expanding the estate simply drives higher imprisonment. IPRT reiterates that meaningful solutions lie in diversion and community‑based alternatives, investment in housing and mental healthcare, and advancing reforms such as the From Punishment to Prevention recommendations. 

This contribution forms part of IPRT’s ongoing work to shift the national conversation toward evidence‑informed, humane and effective responses to offending.  
 
Read IPRT's letter here.  

Submission to the Consultation under Regulation 5(3) of S.I. No. 30 of 2019 on the use of ionising radiation in Irish prisons

IPRT was invited to make a submission to the Environmental Protection Agency’s consultation on introducing X‑ray body scanners in prisons. While acknowledging that it is a less intrusive way to detect internally concealed contraband, we raised concerns about potential repeated radiation exposure, the psychological impact, high costs, and limited effectiveness in addressing underlying issues like drug misuse. IPRT stresses that any use must be strictly necessary, proportionate, and backed by strong safeguards — with a welfare‑led approach prioritised.
Read IPRT's submission here. 

                       
Below are some media highlights featuring IPRT. To read the full list of our media appearances, visit our IPRT in the News webpage. 

• Wicklow courts could grind to a halt as solicitors meet over legal aid reforms - IPRT cited as one of the organisations speaking out and making submissions against this reform
• State's failure to provide addiction nurses in Irish prisons is further punishing vulnerable people - Saoirse Brady speaks to Mick Clifford in the Irish Examiner
• Irish Prisons have no Addiction Nurses: Saoirse Brady interviewed by Ciara Doherty on the Claire Byrne Show
• Prison officers to be issued with body cameras, batons amid rise in violence – Saoirse Brady interviewed by David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with David McCullagh, 
• Calls For Prison Security Review After Inmate Died In Their Cell - Niamh McCormack interviewed on Kildare Today after a death in custody
• Serious questions’ demand after nurse forced to watch helplessly as prisoner died in cell because officers lost keys - Niamh McCormack quoted in the Sun newspaper
• Crime and class Who really ends up behind bars in Ireland? - In an Op-ed in the Journal, Senator Lynn Ruane references IPRT's recent report From Punishment to Prevention
• Saoirse Brady interviewed on Morning Ireland regarding in-cell call scheme pilot: Timestamp: 20:50
• Concern over Mental Health Support in Irish Prisons - Saoirse Brady speaks to Breda Forrest of Radio Kerry

And Finally... Rethinking Remand report launch on 20 July 2026          

On 20 July, IPRT will launch our latest report, Rethinking Remand which examines the use of remand and pre‑trial detention in Ireland. The research assesses current bail practices and their impact on people in custody, identifying key gaps, systemic issues, and opportunities for rights‑focused reform.

The report findings will be presented followed by a panel discussion. Speakers to be announced shortly.

Register here to secure your place:
 

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IPRT relies on donations from charitable trusts, individual donations and membership subscriptions to cover operational costs. We have also received funding from donor-advised funds and project funds managed by the Community Foundation for Ireland. IPRT receives core funding from the Scheme to Fund National Organisations which is funded by the Government of Ireland through the Department of Rural and Community Development: