Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 April 2004
137 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare can be transferred to the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, to help their family visit and overcome the problems in regard to visiting at present; if there is training available for this person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10356/04]
View answerThe person referred to by the Deputy is serving an 18 month sentence in St. Patrick's Institution and is scheduled for release on 11 March 2005. I am informed that there is no record that this person has applied for a transfer to the Midlands Prison. Should he wish to be transferred from St. Patrick's Institution, it is open to him to apply through the governor of the institution.
The Deputy will be aware of the attempts to address the unsustainable overtime costs associated with the prison service in recent times. Neither I nor the Minister for Finance could, in all good conscience, allow the tax payer to continue to fund these payments without making real efforts to address this situation. As a result, each prison governor is now required to operate within a weekly budget and overtime hours are only sanctioned for essential services. There has, unfortunately, been a necessary curtailment to some of the services provided in our prisons as the staff normally deployed there have had to be reassigned elsewhere to cover emergency situations such as unplanned court or hospital escorts. The workshops in St. Patrick's Institution are among the services which have been affected temporarily and accordingly there is limited work training available there at this moment in time. It is anticipated that these services will be restored if agreement is reached with the Prison Officers' Association on revised manning levels, rostering arrangements and other associated issues.
