Rough Christmas ahead for Limerick prisoners as large numbers forced to sleep on the floor

DOZENS of prisoners are regularly sleeping on mattresses on the floor at Limerick Prison, due to unprecedented levels of overcrowding, it has been confirmed.

The Irish Prison Service’s records show that 55 men were sleeping on mattresses on the floor on December 18, 2025. The male facility on Mulgrave Street has an operational capacity of 367 prisoners, yet 462 prisoners were detained there on the 18th.

On December 3, a total of 84 men were sleeping on mattresses at Limerick Prison.

Limerick’s female prison is consistently the most overcrowded prison in the country, recorded as operating at 163% of capacity on December 18. The female wing has twice as many prisoners as beds - with 56 beds for 127 female prisoners.

READ MORE: Shots fired at a house in feud-related incident in Limerick town

The 2024 annual inspection report of the Limerick women's prison stated that the level of overcrowding was impacting on the physical, psychological, and emotional safety of women living there, and that single rooms had been doubled with the introduction of bunk and camp beds.

Media requests for a prison visit to see the living conditions of inmates in Limerick have been put on hold by the Irish Prison Service until the foreseeable future due to the current levels of prisoner overcrowding and the demand on staff resources at this time. TD Matt Carthy visited Limerick prison on Monday, December 15, to see the overcrowding for himself.

The chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee of Justice said that: “This is a prison where over the last year a significant number of male prisoners have regularly been sleeping on mattresses on the floor as it is operating above capacity." The TD continued “The overcrowding crisis is making it increasingly difficult to manage prisons as they become more dangerous for prisoner officers and for prisoners, despite the best efforts of the prison service”.

TD Carthy further warned that “Overcrowding is contributing to tensions in prisoners and is also impacting on the ability of prisons to provide education and training which is crucial to rehabilitation.”

Minister for Justice, Jim O’ Callaghan recently stated in a Parliamentary Question that over 70% of people committed to prison "have issues with drug addiction.” A total of eight drug overdoses have been reported in Limerick prison since August 2024 while nearly 50 drug seizures have been recorded so far in 2025 - representing a significant increase.

Limerick prison employs three addiction counsellors, meaning there is approximately one counsellor per every 169 prisoners.

In 2024 the Department for Justice revealed that 97 people in Limerick prison were on the waiting list for addiction counselling treatment.

When asked about the increase in drug seizures at Limerick prison, a spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service stated: “Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis.”

General secretary of the Irish Prison Officers' Association, Karl Dalton told RTÉ News that the problem of overcrowding and drugs are interlinked in prison: “Unfortunately when you have that much overcrowding, you have no school spaces, you have no workshop spaces; that leads to the onslaught of drugs.”

In 2024, the national rate of prisoners sleeping on mattresses increased by 156% in comparison to 2023's figures.

The national inmate figures of the Irish Prison Service stands at 5,804 prisoners as of December 18, with a bed capacity of 4,702. This means the system is operating at a capacity of 127%.

It has been confirmed that the average cost of a single prison space in 2024 was €8,256 per month.

Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme.