The prison system is "exploding at the seams" and failing its inmates, the president of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) said, writes Ronan McGreevy.
Stephen Delaney, a prison officer in Mountjoy Prison, accused successive ministers for justice of failing the prison system and doing nothing about overcrowding.
Mr Delaney will give the president’s speech this afternoon following an address by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter at the annual conference, which takes place in Kilkenny. He said young offenders are being kept in adult institutions in contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.