Ciarán Cuffe
Question:73 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the Irish Penal Reform Trust or Merchant's Quay Ireland has been directly consulted in the development of the new prison drug policy. [23431/03]
Written Answers. - Prison Drug Treatment Services.
In early 2000, a national steering group on prison based drug treatment services was established by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service at the request of the then Minister. Its brief was to progress the issue of drug treatment and associated services within the prison system, particularly in the Dublin area. The group includes representatives of the Eastern Regional Health Authority.
The national steering group produced a report on prison based drug treatment services in July 2000. It consulted widely with external groups prior to the drafting of this report. A public advertisement inviting submissions from interested parties was placed in the national newspapers on 27 January 2000 and 22 submissions were received from various parties such as healthcare professionals, community and voluntary groups as well as from individual members of the public. The national steering group considered all of these submissions in finalising this report. The Irish Penal Reform Trust and Merchant's Quay Project were two of those organisations whose views were submitted and considered by the group.
The Irish Prison Service recognises that voluntary drug treatment organisations and task forces based in local communities, especially those in which the majority of offenders normally reside, are central to the through care and after care arrangements for prisoners in receipt of drug treatment in custody. The governors of the main Dublin prisons were subsequently requested to establish liaison groups with relevant community and voluntary interests to facilitate dialogue and through care for persons treated in prison for drug dependency and with a view to enhancing the partnership approach to this issue. As a result, the prison and community drugs liaison group was established in 2001 and meets on a regular basis. This forum provides a mechanism for a regular exchange of views between prison management and the community and voluntary sector.
Against this background, and building on proposals from a policy sub-group of the national steering group, I am now finalising the preparation of a drugs policy for the Irish Prison Service. I have met prison governors to discuss the operational implications of this policy which will, among other things, reflect the clear objectives in this area of the programme for Government.
This policy will be supplemented by draft new prison rules which will provide,inter alia, for compulsory drug testing of prisoners and which are with the parliamentary counsel.