More than 1,000 new prison places will become available within the next 18 months, including 400 by mid-April at the new Cloverhill prison, where each place cost £91,000.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, told Mr Ivor Callely, (FF, Dublin NorthCentral) in a written reply, that there were currently 3,060 places in the State's prisons.
The remaining 613 places would become available in the midlands (515), Castlerea (50) and Limerick (66).