A public opinion poll shows that a majority of voters in Ireland across the largest political parties are open to reforms within the criminal justice system that would tackle overcrowding through alternatives to imprisonment, specifically in the case of people who commit non-violent offences. The RED C poll commissioned by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults at the start of October 2024 to gauge public opinion on a range of issues related to prison and the criminal justice system.

The poll found that:

• 81% believe it's important to focus on alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders in the next programme for the government. Support is consistently high across voters of the main political parties and independents. Excluding those who answered ‘Don’t know’, this rises to 86%.
• Most feel that offenders with either mental health (71%) or addiction difficulties (63%) should receive treatment in a dedicated facility instead of being sent to prison. This strategy in addition to community service, are the most favoured approaches to tackle overcrowding in Irish prisons.
• 68% believe building prison spaces is not the solution to prison overcrowding and that crime should be tackled at its root, while only 32% believe that crime levels would reduce as a result of increased prison spaces.
• When given options as to what measures should be implemented to tackle crime, 41% choose additional Gardaí over other measures, followed by drug treatment places (21%) and youth services (10%).
• 51% of people think that people come out of prison worse than they went in.

P.3 & 5 Irish adults would prioritise range of measures to tackle crime over additional prison spaces When given options as to what measures should be prioritised to tackle crime, 41% choose additional Gardaí as their top priority over other measures, followed by drug treatment places (21%) and youth services (10%). Additional prison spaces (7%) ranked fifth in a list of seven options.

P. 7 Women over-index on priority of drug treatment places. Meanwhile, men and older age cohorts are more likely to favour extra Gardaí.

P.14 Majority feel offenders with mental health or addiction challenges should be afforded prison alternatives.

P.18 The most favoured strategy to tackle overcrowding is placing people with mental health challenges in appropriate services (58%). Placing those with addiction issues in treatment programmes also see high support (54%).