Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
611. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if the Inspector of Prisons has highlighted any issues of concern regarding the Irish Prison Service or officials in her Department into their ability to carry their function in respect of their reporting. [17964/22]
View answerThe Office of the Inspector of Prisons was established under the Prisons Act 2007 and is independent in how it carries out its functions. The Inspector's key role is to carry out regular inspections of prisons.
As the Deputy may be aware, Section 31 of the Prisons Act 2007 provides that the Inspector of Prisons can at any time enter any prison or any part of a prison, request and obtain from the Governor a copy of any books, records, other documents kept in the prison.
Governors, prison officers, other persons employed in prisons and prisoners are required by law, in as far as reasonably practicable, to comply with any request for information from the Inspector as they perform their functions.
The Prison Service actively encourages prisoners at all times to engage with the independent bodies making inspections of prisons including the Inspector of Prison, the Prison Visiting Committees and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane Treatment. To assist prisoners in this regard, the Prison Service provides prisoners with information on these bodies via the Prisoner Information Booklet.
In 2021, in response to the pandemic, and the need to monitor the situation within prisons for prisoners and staff, the Inspector of Prisons suspended her planned 2021 general inspection programme and instead embarked on a Covid-19 focused inspection schedule, designed to provide a human rights-based assessment of the response of the Prison Service to the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic the Prison Service continued to facilitate access to prisons and prisoners for those organisations with a statutory role such as the Office of the Inspector of Prisons to ensure continued oversight during the pandemic.
In general terms, in instances where, following an inspection, issues are raised by the Inspector, these are considered by the Prison Service and the corresponding responses from the Prison Service are set out in the Inspector's reports or associated documentation upon publication.
As the Deputy will appreciate, I am keen to ensure the Inspector of Prisons is adequately resourced and to this end, there was an increase in the 2021 budget for the Inspector of Prisons of just over €0.75m, bringing the total 2021 allocation to €1.954m and this has been further increased in the 2022 Budget where the Inspector’s resources increased by a further €0.4m bringing the total allocation to €2.35m.
I can further advise the Deputy that upon her retirement in February the then Inspector of Prisons wrote to me to formally tender her resignation and to outline challenges she faced in carrying out her duties during her tenure. I intend to engage further with the new Inspector upon appointment on these matters, and with the Prison Service itself, in the context of ongoing work to develop the independent prisons oversight and inspection function.
