asked the Minister for Justice the reason for the failure of his Department to produce and publish the Report on Prisons for 1987; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Report on Prisons.
53.
The annual Report on Prisons and Places of Detention for 1987 is being printed in Arbour Hill Prison at present. Copies of the report are expected to be available this week for presentation to Government prior to publication. A copy of the report will be circulated to all Deputies immediately thereafter. Work on the preparation of the report commenced on 19 October 1987 when I issued instructions that all material for inclusion in the 1987 report be submitted to my Department by the end of January this year. The statistical element of the report consists of approximately 11,500 items of raw material, if I might use that phrase, which must be input to a computer prior to being assembled in tabular form. Some of the statistical material received was incomplete and other items required to be clarified. The intervention of the prison officers industrial dispute contributed to the delay in so far as some returns remained outstanding and could not be furnished. Finalisation of the statistical section of the report continued during the summer months. The material was then submitted to the printing unit in Arbour Hill Prison for typesetting and the proofs were returned to my Department for proof reading and for amendments to be made to correct mistakes which occurred in the typesetting. The final proofs of the text and the statistical section of the report were furnished to the printing unit in Arbour Hill Prison on 19 October and the printing unit have indicated that the earliest date by which copies would be available would be during the week commencing 14 November.
As it is now virtually the end of 1988 would the Minister not agree that it is totally undesirable and unacceptable that it is only now that the report on prisons for 1987 is to be publicised? Would he not agree that it is a cause for concern among at least some sources of the public that the reason for the delay is that the report will show an undesirable and unacceptable situation existing in the prisons? Will the Minister ensure that these reports are published within a reasonable time, about two or three months from the end of the year to be covered?
May I ask the Deputy to be brief?
Would the Minister not agree that if he does not do this the value of the report will be weakened?
I am glad the Deputy has given me the opportunity to say the following in the interest of explaining the position to all Members of the House. Since I took office there has been a substantial improvement in the time scale by which reports are now published. For instance, four reports — two on the prisons and places of detention and two on the probation and welfare services — were published between July and December 1987. As a backbench Deputy of the Government at the time, the Deputy should know there were no reports issued then for 1985-86. Despite the breakthrough I made last year, I will have a better record this year by having the report published three weeks earlier than the report published last year. The Deputy should be highly complimentary and appreciative of what I am doing.
(Interruptions,)
The Deputy is cursed with a bad memory.
The facts speak for themselves. We are nearly into 1989 so what good are the reports for 1987?