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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Apr 2001

Vol. 534 No. 5

Written Answers - Immigration Policy.

Alan Shatter

Question:

17 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason, in his reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 106 to 108, inclusive, of 1 March 2001, he stated that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture did not issue an annual report in 1996 given that on 22 August 1997 the committee published a seventh General Report of the Committee on the Prevention of Torture covering the period 1 January 1996 to 31 December 1996, which was entitled, Foreign Nationals detained under Aliens Legislation; and if, in the light of this, he will respond to the issues raised in Parliamentary Questions Nos. 106 to 108, inclusive, of 1 March 2001. [10855/01]

As I previously stated in my answer of 1 March 2001, the European Committee against Torture did not issue an annual report for the year 1996. The report referred to by the Deputy is titled "7th General Report on the CPT's activities covering the period 1 January to 31 January 1996".

The report recommends that, when an immigration detainee must be accommodated in a prison, he should be held separately from other prisoners. Usually the periods of detention in the prison system are short, ranging from one overnight to a weekend. Only in exceptional cases are immigration detainees held in the prison system for more than two or three overnights. As I stated in my previous answer in relation to this matter, immigration detainees are accommodated in either the training unit, Mountjoy Prison, the Dóchas Centre, Cork Prison or Limerick Prison. Where immigration detainees are held in Mountjoy Prison, they are normally separated from sentenced prisoners and are not placed in cells with convicted offenders. It is not possible at present to segregate immigration detainees from other prisoners at Cork or Limerick Prisons. In practice the majority of immigration detainees are held in single cell accommodation in the training unit. The training unit is a drug free place of detention near Mountjoy which operates a relatively relaxed regime within a secure perimeter. Restrictions there are kept to a minimum consistent with order and control. Obviously in a setting like this it is impossible to keep immigration detainees separated from other prisoners.

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