Vol. 466 No. 1
177 Mr. Lenihan asked the Minister for Justice when she intends to publish the Annual Report on Prisons and Places of Detention in respect of each of the years 1993 to 1995; and if she will make a statement on the reason for the delay in publication. [11019/96]
The long-standing backlog in publication of prison reports to which the Deputy refers is a situation which I inherited on taking office 18 months ago. Due to the lack of efficient information technology in our prisons there is a serious backlog in this work. However, I am in a position to inform the House that the report in respect of the year 1993 has now been complied and will be published shortly. Compilation of the statistics in respect of 1994 and 1995 is in progress.
Some time ago, I decided that, in parallel with the work of updating our prison office technology, the written elements of the annual reports, which include an outline of the main developments in the prison service and the reports of the visiting committees, which are also made available separately, and the various prison services should in future be compiled and published separately. The statistical tables would then be published as soon as possible afterwards. I plan to have these interim reports, for 1994 and 1995, ready for publication later this year.
The analysis of statistical information is a vital tool in aiding research into the prison system and an investigation is currently in progress into ways in which the use of information technology would allow the availability of such information to be improved.
