I propose to take Questions Nos. 1171 and 1172 together.
I am aware of the newspaper reports as referred to by the Deputy and I wish to congratulate the achievement of prisoners in several prisons who secured excellent examination grades in 2003. However, I would make the point that, in the prisons, enrolment in third level-degree courses is through the open university and not through the standard CAO system as is implied in the particular newspaper article.
The annual report for 2002 of the Irish Prison Service, which was recently presented to me and which has just been published, gives an overview of the provision of education in our prisons. As well as commenting on the principal features and major developments in relation to the prison education service during 2002, the individual prison profiles contained in the annual report give a snapshot as to the extent of participation by prisoners in educational facilities in the different prisons and places of detention. As mentioned in the report, however, set courses and examinations are but a part of prison education.
Successive policy initiatives in relation to the prisons, dating from the Whitaker report in 1985, have placed emphasis on the crucial role education can play in the management and rehabilitation of prisoners. In the individual institutions, participation varies with factors such as facilities, turnover of the prisoner population and the need to segregate certain groupings of prisoners. Participation in education is voluntary; each student has an individualised timetable which caters for his/her identified needs. In 2002, 54% of all prisoners were involved at some level in education: the take-up in the different education units ranging from 43% to over 80%.