Violent assualt on a pensioner and he gets a suspended sentence
I know they don't have the prison spaces but this is out of order
They don't need to complusory purchase anywhere, they still have the Thornton Hall site which they (well, we) paid a fortune for. Nothing built on it.
Going high-rise is more expensive, justifiable if you can sell apartments for half a mil each, not for a prison, which doesn't need to be in a built-up area.
The vast bulk of the running costs aren't fancy breakfast cereals or fizzy drinks, it's staffing, you need a quite high ratio of staff on duty to prisoners. Then you need to multiply that number of staff by 5 to provide 24/7/52 cover.
I read that with astonishment. He literally tried to flee the jurisdiction after the killing, so massive flight risk. As if loss of1000 euro is sufficient incentive for him to remain.
FF and FG float the idea, but are ambivalent. Labour, Soc Dems (just got TD elected), SF (largest party?) are against it, so where’s the will to get it done?
They could always outsource some prisoners to other countries, El Salvador, Turkey and Pakistan spring to mind - sentences could be shorter then to offset the fact that they are overseas, but I suspect rates of recidivism would decline
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/may/27/tv-tonight-richard-madeley-mega-prison-amandaland
Thrre was a good documentary on one of the English tv stations about a mega prison in El Salvador . Lot of Irish scum should be sent there , wouldn’t be laughing at the judges or going to jail out there .
so you want something that will simply never happen, again, very interesting!
Solicitor spouting crap
His defence counsel Aonghus McCarthy told the court that Mr Brodericks was entitled to bail.
Bullshît, nobody is entitled to bail, it is at the discretion of the court.
and that bail was a constitutional right.
Complete bullshît.
So wanting to have a functioning criminal justice system, where the rights of victims take precedence over the rights of career criminals, now makes you authoritarian. Are you by any chance a member of the legal profession? Or a Soc Dem TD?
TBF, my reading of DublinCalling's post was that we need more prison places. Agree that the rights of victims should be the priority but it’s gradually gone the other way here because of ridiculous sentences handed down by some judges.
Thornton hall already has most of the infrastructure in place, theyve already built the access road, put in a bridge, changed the junction, installing traffic lights etc. Its maddening that its just sitting there going to waste, should be built asap as an urgent national project.
They should also be looking at building another offshore on a remote island, off the coast in connemara, mayo or donegal. Would be (relatively) cheap and bring much needed investment and jobs to economic blackspots
Build a 1500-capacity prison at Thornton Hall and then rebuild Spike Island. That'd be a good start.
It's not bullshît. It's related to the presumption of innocence. Not granting bail is effectively depriving an innocent person of their freedom. The gardai have to make arguments as to why someone should be denied bail or have strict conditions imposed otherwise bail will be granted.
That said, the €1,000 bond in this case seems ridiculous.
How many people out on bail are committing numerous other crimes including murder ? Society deserves to be protected from bad bad people
The county council have spent a fortune making spike a tourist attraction,
Building a modern prison on spike would be an archeological nightmare ,and damn expensive too, i could see it being a low security prison, obviously not a day release prison.. although i think we should have several of those in our cities
Island prisons are astoundingly expensive to run, much as they give right wingers erections
They tried that in the US (Alcatraz Island) and the cost of maintaining it was ridiculous.
There's no need for a prison to be offshore and people in those areas can just go where the jobs are, it's what everyone else does, the taxpayer does not owe them a nice living on their doorstep.
Bail is not the same thing as presumption of innocence. And nobody is entitled to it.
We presume anyone charged with rape and murder is innocent, that doesn't mean they get bail either and nor should it.
Bail is a privilege, only those who are expected not to reoffend / interfere with victims or witnesses should be considered for it. Bear in mind that most crims before the court have a record of convictions a mile long.
It should be up to the defence to make a case for bail not for the prosecution to make a case against it.
LOL at this, but it's so true. A stupid idea from every aspect but that doesn't intrude on the fantasy.
I fully agree with you, I'm just outlining my understanding of the legal position. The way it operates in practice is a disgrace - often it seems no one has any idea of whereabouts or activities of those on bail. I think committing an offence while on bail should mean any sentence is doubled.
I didn't say it was the same thing, I said it was related. I agree with the principle, but like yourself and I suspect the majority of people, I think more weight should be given to previous offending history in deciding whether or not to grant bail.
SF definitely won’t build prisons, they even want to scrap the Special Criminal Court, the one court actually capable of taking the worst of the worst off the streets. If you think these suspended sentences are bad, the likes of Sean McGovern, convicted today, would be strutting around without he SCC.
6 years for being caught with 220k of drugs, fully suspended. Poor cratur, prison might have had a detrimental effect on her
https://www.thejournal.ie/sarah-cala-drugs-finglas-false-wall-car-7067046-Jun2026/
If you get caught, bring a good sob story. How many previous does she have for similar?
6 years is a very significant sentence (and argued down from the starting point of 10) so to suspend ALL of it is breathtaking.
Plus she has previous - doesn't say what for but I wouldn't be surprised if it was drug related
https://www.corkbeo.ie/incoming/cork-businessman-hypothermia-after-spending-34105390?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=communities
And imigrants legal and illegal can walk free and with free legal aid. A great fcukin country ran by Mehole and his buddies
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
He walked free, what did you want to happen?
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/afghan-man-receipt-social-welfare-37305415?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target Came here as part of family reunification, on the dole, returned to Afghanistan to get married, came back here, caught money laundering, no penalty, no deportation
“He recognises that this country has been very good to him, that he has been receiving support from a variety of state agencies and has thrown that back in their faces,” he said.
Counsel said that Hotak hopes to return to Afghanistan and bring his wife and child back to Ireland.
We are a country of utter mugs
At least he recognises we are a soft touch.
It’s the arms raised in some sort of jubilance that does it. https://www.independent.ie/county/longford/banned-driver-caught-behind-the-wheel-for-the-sixth-time-without-insurance-walks-free-from-court/a/157401379.html
I mean the tech has to be there to enforce curfews andxbans on entering certain areas etc through the use of wearable bracelets, if crims are to avoid a custodial sentence, we should at least impose some restrictions
