Vol. 493 No. 2
79 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will give details of the research projects that have been or will be undertaken by the research unit of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15480/98]
The following research projects have been, or are in the process of being commissioned by my Department. The awarding of any contract to carry out a research project is, of course, dependent on suitable tenders being received in my Department: a review of coroner law; evaluation and development of equality proofing arrangements in the context of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS); collation, evaluation and analysis of survey of equal opportunities in the semi-State sector; study of male/female wage differentials; provision, as part of Department's website, of Internet links to externally generated information relevant to the Department's mandate; comparative study between Irish immigration and asylum legislation and that of our EU partners; study on the effect of the introduction of the Bail Act, 1997; examination of the reporting of sexual offences; evaluation and assessment of impact of Garda special project in areas of acute social disadvantage; level of HV/Hepatitis infection among prison population; level of learning disability among prison population; general healthcare study of prison population; preparatory work related to a draft EU Convention on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations; evaluation of the operation of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act, 1983; and North/South study on attitudes to treatment of offenders in the community.
In addition to these projects, a number of further research studies are also under consideration at present. Furthermore, while the project listed above will be funded by my Department, a small number of externally developed research projects which have a relevance to the mandate of the Department ar in receipt of part-funding from the research budget. These include a study by the Health Research Board into provision of creche facilities for mothers who are receiving treatment for drug addiction.
