Vol. 515 No. 6
9 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when sufficient custodial places in the prisons will be available to detain individuals charged with serious offences whom the Garda feel should be kept in custody rather than allowed bail. [6807/00]
As I indicated to the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis, the Bail Act, 1997, will become fully operational on 15 May 2000. By that time, there will be approximately 3,235 prison places available. Over the following 12 to 18 months, a further 631 places will become available at the following locations: midlands, 515; Castlerea, 50; and Limerick, 66. These additional places will accommodate people remanded in custody by the courts. We are reaching the stage where the revolving door, which spun so quickly under the previous Administration, is starting to close.
The Minister's promise at the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis rings quite hollow when taken in the light of the truth, with particular reference to the 515 places at the new midlands prison at Portlaoise, to which he referred in his reply. The opening of this prison is long overdue. The contract date has long since expired. The reason the prison is not open is that the town sewerage scheme is unable to cope with such a facility.
Will the Deputy ask a question?
What will the Minister do about it? Will he confirm that the new prison, the building of which was announced by the Minister on numerous occasions amid fanfares, ribbon cuttings, sod turnings and claw-hammer bangings, will not be open by 15 May and that there will not be anybody in it by 15 May, in the context of his promise, because it will not be ready?
I did not say the prison would be ready by 15 May. I said that the Bail Act, 1997, would be implemented on 15 May.
He said the prison would be ready by September 1999.
Construction of the main prison at Portlaoise is complete. If the Deputy's Government had decided to build such a prison, he would have had a seat here for life.
Snagging is under way and the installation of highly sophisticated security systems has commenced. These works will progress over the next 12 weeks. Construction of the extra wing to the midlands prison is nearing completion. I hope to have full possession of the midlands prison by mid-summer. The prison will cater for 515 prisoners with a special emphasis on work and training with the provision of five factory units. I would have thought that Deputy Flanagan would have welcomed this news.
Cloverhill Prison, currently is operating at one quarter of its capacity with 100 prisoners in situ with 102 prison officers. When will it be open to its full capacity, that is, 400? When does the Minister intend to introduce the provisions of the bail legislation? Is one contingent on the other?
The present position with the prison at Cloverhill is that the fire alarm is being upgraded. There is a fire alarm system in the prison, but it proved to be oversensitive in some areas of the prison and it has caused activation. A more reliable and secure system is being installed and as the installation work progresses the offender population will increase until the 400 places are available to the courts, which I anticipate will be during May. There are approximately 100 prisoners in Cloverhill Prison at present. When it is fully operational, it will be the main remand prison. There will be a court adjacent to it to ensure that people will not need to travel up and down the country to various courts to which they would have been remanded. I anticipate this should save the Exchequer a considerable amount of money.
With regard to the Bail Act, 1997, the referendum of 1996 was passed overwhelmingly by the people who wanted us to insert a provision into the Constitution that a person could be refused bail if he or she was considered likely to commit a further serious offence if granted bail. The courts will have that power.
(Mayo): Will the Minister state why on 1 June he officially opened Cloverhill Prison – which is the remand prison for which we have all been waiting on foot of the Bail Act, 1997 and the referendum – when the wiring system was defective, the sprinkler system was not working, the computer was registering non-existent fires and the floors had to be ripped up?
With six staff.
(Mayo): In view of the fact that the prison is still not officially opened, will he reopen it?
For the third time. It was opened for the local elections in June and closed after the ballot boxes were opened.
The Minister for a brief reply. Time is almost up on this question.
It is better than the women's prison. Two people escaped from the women's prison before he opened it.
Deputy Higgins is off on a flight of fantasy again. The reality of the position is that the prison would never have been opened if he had remained in office because it would not be there.
He opened it twice already and it is operating at 25% capacity.
