Ireland’s statutory prisons inspectorate, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) has just completed a full unannounced inspection of Limerick Men’s Prison. The inspection took place between 10 and 20 March 2026. A full unannounced inspection of Limerick Women’s Prison was carried out by the Inspectorate in November 2024, and the Inspectorate also met with a number of the women held there on this occasion.
All but two of Ireland’s prisons have now received full unannounced general inspections under the Inspectorate’s Framework for the Inspection of Prisons in Ireland.
Specially secured electronic tablets were used to enable a representative number of people in prison to complete an anonymous survey. Staff working in Limerick Prison were also surveyed anonymously. These survey results became available in real time during the inspection, and informed inspection activities.
This inspection was carried out by:
- Mr. Mark Kelly, Chief Inspector of Prisons
- Ms. Michelle Martyn, Lead Inspector
- Mr. Matthew Butterly, Inspector
- Dr. Sarah Curristan, Inspector
- Ms. Orla Dick, Inspector
- Mr. Conor Dormer, Inspector
- Dr. Douglas Nanka-Bruce, Data Analyst
- Ms. Joanne Mooney, Information Coordinator
The OIP Inspection Team was assisted by the following experts:
- Mr. Sam Gluckstein, Deputy Chief Inspector Designate, HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland
- Mr. Antony Hassall, Safety & Security Expert
- Dr. Kieran Kennedy, General Practitioner
- Dr. Lloyd Philpott, Nursing Expert
- Dr. Edel McAndrew, Psychologist
In addition, the team benefitted from the expertise of Ms Yvonne Ní Mhurchú (Inspector) and Ms. Caroline O’Shea (Inspector) from the Inspectorate of the Department of Education.*
Speaking about the Inspectorate’s preliminary findings, Chief Inspector Mr Mark Kelly said:
“In common with most other prisons in Ireland, Limerick Men’s Prison was found to be grossly overcrowded. On the last day of the inspection, over 50 men were being obliged to sleep on mattresses on the floor, next to unpartitioned toilets.”
“The prison is failing to provide an irreducible bare minimum of purposeful activity to many people living there. Their lawful entitlement to daily outdoor exercise is not being respected, and their visits are frequently cancelled at short notice. Unsurprisingly, this has increased tension in the prison, directly leading to incidents that comprise the safety of staff and prisoners.”
Mr Kelly added that:
“It is also clear that the legitimate mental health needs of both men and women being held at Limerick Prison are not being met”.
The Inspectorate considers that urgent action is needed to improve risk management practices, as well as the living and working conditions at Limerick Prison.
Note to editors
The Office of the Inspector of Prisons is a statutory body, independent in how it carries out its work, set up under the Prisons Act 2007.
The law underpinning the role of Chief Inspector of Prisons is set out in Part 5, Sections 30 to 32 of the Prisons Act 2007. Section 30 provides for the appointment of the Chief Inspector, Section 31 sets out the functions of the Chief Inspector and Section 32 specifies the requirement to submit an Annual Report to the Minister for Justice.
Under Section 31 of the Act, the Chief Inspector of Prisons is obliged to carry out regular inspections of prisons and for this purpose may: at any time enter any prison or any part of a prison, request and obtain from the Governor a copy of any books, records, other documents or extracts from
such documents, and, in the course of an inspection or arising out of an inspection bring any issues of concern to the notice of the governor of the prison concerned, the Director General of the Irish Prison Service or the Minister as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate.
At the end of 2025, the Chief Inspector issued a Statutory Notice of Concern to the Director General of the Irish Prison Service, following failures of cooperation during an inspection. Further details will be set out in the Inspectorate’s Annual Report for 2025.
The Chief Inspector may, and must if he receives a request from the Minister, investigate any matter arising out of the management or operation of a prison and shall submit to the Minister a report on any such investigation.
Governors, prison officers, other persons employed in prisons and prisoners, must as far as reasonably practicable, comply with any request for information that the Chief Inspector may make in the performance of his functions.
Since 2012, the Chief Inspector has also been obliged to investigate the circumstances of all deaths in custody and those within one month of temporary release from custody.
In addition to the legislative authority derived from the Act, the Chief Inspector has specified functions under Prison Rules 2007-2013 in relation to the Irish Prison Service Prisoner Complaints Procedure (Rule 57B) and letters from prisoners (Rule 44 (1) (h)).
It is anticipated that, in the near future, the Inspectorate will become the Inspectorate of Places of Detention, with an expanded remit as the National Preventive Mechanism for the Justice sector under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
(*) The OIP has concluded a Memorandum of Agreement with the Inspectorate of the Department of Education, enabling it to benefit from the expertise of colleagues from that Inspectorate when assessing educational provision in prisons.
For further information, please see: www.oip.ie
ENDS