Right To Know Ireland

The head of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) sought an urgent meeting with justice officials after warning overcrowded jails could not cope with large groups of immigration detainees being held before charter deportation flights.

Internal records show the warning was issued after more than a dozen South African women were held at the Dóchas Centre for over a fortnight at a time the jail was already operating at 151 percent capacity.

At the same time, the IPS had to accommodate an extra 19 deportees in Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison, where 34 other inmates were already sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

The correspondence was sent in February, with the Director General of the IPS, Caron McCaffrey, saying the system simply did “not have the ability to cope.”

https://www.thestory.ie/2026/06/12/irish-prison-service-said-it-could-not-cope-with-large-groups-of-deportees-being-held-in-overcrowded-jails-before-charter-removal-flights/

A city council said bin-raiding by people looking for bottles and cans had cost it half a million euro last year, leaving already-collected rubbish strewn around the streets.

A briefing document said the Deposit Return Scheme, operated by Re-turn, forced staff to clean up waste from city streets twice over.

Its waste management section estimated that three hours in every 24-hour cleaning cycle were being diverted to deal with “bin interference.”

The document said the council had placed bin surrounds on receptacles to try and encourage people to deposit cans and bottles there.

However, these had little impact and were instead being used for general litter disposal including coffee cups, drink cartons, and ci******es.

A breakdown of costs said Dublin City Council had spent more than €115,000 replacing locks on ‘Big Belly’ bins at a cost of €995 per receptacle.

The council had placed surrounds on a total of 110 bins at a cost of around €40,000 even though this ultimately proved of limited use.

It said there were ongoing daily costs from the Re-turn scheme with staff forced to remove torn bags, collect scattered waste, and return to areas already cleaned.

The briefing document said: “The estimated cost of this diverted staff and fleet time is approximately €351,000 per annum.”

The briefing – prepared earlier this year – said costs for Dublin City Council were already in the order of €857,000.

https://www.thestory.ie/2026/05/27/council-briefing-said-re-turn-bottles-and-cans-had-become-a-monetary-commodity-leading-to-bin-scavenging-and-a-e500000-clean-up-bill/

The Department of Agriculture was worried about “panic buying” of fertiliser by Irish farmers with the country badly exposed to the fallout from the Middle East conflict.

A series of briefings said Morocco, Ireland’s main supplier of phosphate, relied heavily on goods coming through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

It said that while there was production in Europe, countries like Spain and France would be looking after their own domestic markets first.

A briefing note from March said: “Ireland, as an import-dependent island, is structurally vulnerable.”

It explained how more than a third of Ireland’s annual fertiliser requirement was yet to be secured as extreme uncertainty grew over availability and price.

https://www.thestory.ie/2026/05/22/internal-briefings-warned-of-risk-of-panic-buying-by-farmers-as-ireland-faced-fertiliser-supply-uncertainty-amid-conflict-in-middle-east/

A business case for the State’s €148 million purchase of the Citywest complex described the site as a peaceful “exemplary model” of asylum accommodation just months before a riot took place outside.

The ‘Project Echo’ document – prepared by consultants KPMG – said the centre in Dublin had “notably” avoided the protests and unrest that were seen at other IPAS centres.

The report said: “This peaceful environment contrasts sharply with the widespread protests and incidents of arson reported at other locations.”

https://www.thestory.ie/2026/05/20/citywest-business-case-praised-site-as-peaceful-exemplary-model-and-highlighted-expansion-potential-before-violent-protests/