asked the Minister for Justice the facilities which exist in the prison service for the treatment of and help for chronic alcoholics and homeless people who find themselves in jail.
88.
Written Answers. - Facilities for Prisoners.
86.
asked the Minister for Justice the arrangements which are made by the prison service for residential accommodation for homeless people when they are discharged from prison.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 88 together. Offenders with alcohol problems have a number of services available to them including general medical, psychiatric, welfare and chaplaincy services. In addition, members of Alcoholics Anonymous visit the institutions regularly to befriend and counsel offenders with alcohol problems. In recent years the Probation and Welfare service has organised alcohol education courses in a number of institutions. These courses are of about ten weeks duration and every effort is made to involve the family of the offender in them. In appropriate cases offenders can be allowed outings to attend AA meetings in the community and temporary release can be granted conditional on attendance at, or residence in, a community-based treatment centre.
The Probation and Welfare Service is available to offenders who have no home to go to on release from prison. The service assists in arranging accommodation and my Department fund a number of hostels where such accommodation is available.