Vol. 562 No. 4
372 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position regarding the provision of optical treatment for prisoners in Cork prisons; if a prisoner has been identified with an optical defect, the average waiting period before assessment is carried out by an optician; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6377/03]
Prisoners in Cork Prison or Fort Mitchel Place of Detention who require assessment of visual acuity and the possible provision of spectacles are either placed on a waiting list for a clinic provided by a visiting optician or, if appropriate, are referred externally. Prisoners would be routinely identified, on an on-going basis, as requiring corrective lenses – spectacles – and these are provided on the same basis as to medical card holders in the general community.
Optical clinics are provided in Cork Prison approximately quarterly. During the past year 32 prisoners requested to see the optician and 25 were provided with spectacles. Prisoners from Fort Mitchel are referred to Cork University Hospital for optical assessment and the current waiting list is approximately four months. Where it is considered that the need is more urgent, for example, broken spectacles, acute presentation etc., arrangements can be put in place for more urgent assessment.
There is no indication from either prison in the Cork area that the present arrangements are the source of any particular problem.
