Vol. 260 No. 2
asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware of a report (details supplied) that drugs such as LSD and cannabis are being smuggled into Mountjoy Prison and St. Patrick's Institution; if he will indicate what steps are being taken to prevent this practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
98.
asked the Minister for Justice what criteria, if any, are used in deciding to transfer drug addicts from Mountjoy Prison or St. Patrick's Institution to treatment facilities; whether or not any such decision is taken under the aegis of the Department of Justice or the Department of Health; and the present number of drug addicts undergoing treatment for drug abuse.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 98 together.
The decision whether to treat a drug abuser within Mountjoy or St. Patrick's, as the case may be, or in an outside institution is taken by the medical officer in consultation with the medical authorities of the institution concerned.
The number under treatment in Mountjoy at present is four with an additional one on temporary release in the Dundrum unit. Five are under treatment at St. Patrick's, two of whom are being assessed for possible treatment at Dundrum.
While it is impossible, without the imposition of unduly severe custodial arrangements—arrangements so severe that they would be regarded by most people as quite unacceptable—to eliminate entirely the possibility of drug smuggling into Mountjoy and St. Patrick's, the authorities are specially alert in this regard. They are satisfied that it is not a problem in either institution and that there could be no possible basis for any suggestion that the inmates have easy or regular access to drugs. I should like to make two points. First, I am satisfied that the prison authorities were in no way remiss in arranging for the transfer of the youth mentioned in the newspaper report concerned to the Dundrum Unit after the cases against him had been disposed of by the courts. Secondly, while having the greatest sympathy with people who find themselves in difficulties with drugs, and more so with their parents, I do not think it is in anybody's interests to suggest that these difficulties are attributable to neglect or indifference on the part of the prison authorities.
