More than one-in-five of all members of the country’s leading criminal gangs who are currently serving jail sentences are due for release from prison this year. Ms McEntee said the figures were estimates as it was not possible to provide definitive figures on the number of known members of criminal gangs currently behind bars. The minister said criminal gangs may also group together, while others splinter due to family or in-house disputes. The IPS and gardaí also maintain regular contact to discuss security issues around the operation of criminal gangs and the release of gang members from prison. Ms McEntee said a suite of assessment and intervention pathways were available to violent offenders in custody to address their high risk of re-offending on release from prison.

Source: Irish Examiner February 12, 2021 15:47 UTC