Catherine Murphy
Question:138. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the status of the establishment and roll-out of a new prison complaints system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7458/23]
View answerWednesday, 15 February 2023
Questions (138, 140)
Catherine Murphy
Question:140. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the status of plans for the Office of the Ombudsman to receive and deal with complaint appeals from people in prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7460/23]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 140 together.
My Department has been working with the Irish Prison Service and the Attorney General’s Office to amend the Prison Rules 2007 to simplify the prisoner complaints system and provide for review by the Ombudsman. Drafting of the Regulations is at an advanced stage. Once finalised, the Irish Prison Service will update the IT system, the training manual, the policy and staff guidelines, and the prisoner information media to support and explain the new procedures, and staff training will be undertaken. It is estimated that the work to implement the new regulations will take roughly 16-18 weeks to complete once the text of the Statutory Instrument has been finalised.
Following consultation with the Ombudsman, it was agreed that under the revised complaints system, the role of the Ombudsman will become operational once the new complaints system has been established and has bedded down. This approach will allow for any issues that arise with the general operation of the complaints system to be accounted for in the implementation of the Ombudsman’s role.