Prison Service

Thursday, 14 December 2023

Questions (403)

Brendan Griffin

Question:

403. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Justice the number of unused cells per prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56191/23]

View answer

Written answers

I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Irish Prison Service. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to collate the information requested in the time allowed. I will write to the Deputy directly when the information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to your recent Parliamentary Question Number 294 for written answer on Thursday 14th December 2023 in which you asked the Minister the number of unused cells per prison. You will recall it was not possible to provide the information requested at the time and I undertook to write to the Deputy directly when the information was available.

I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service currently have a total of 20 unused Operational Cells across the prison estate. The breakdown of these is as follows;

Prison	Mountjoy Female	Wheatfield Prison	Castlerea Prison	Portlaoise
Number of unused cells	6	10	4	6

There are a number of cells across the prison estate designated under Rule 18 of the Prison Rules 2007 for a specific purpose which may not always be occupied but have to be kept available in the event that they are needed.

In Wheatfield six cells are out of order due to an ongoing maintenance issue and 4 are not used for operational issues related to a prisoner housed in that area.

Four cells are currently out of use in Castlerea as they do not meet current health and safety requirements and they are currently undergoing remedial works to bring them back into operation.

The six cells in the Mountjoy female prison are currently being upgraded as part of a planned programme to enhance these double occupancy rooms with new windows, lighting, toilets and tiling.

In Portlaoise Prison, the presence of gang and subversive prisoners mean some landings have unused cells, six cells are currently not being used because other categories cannot be mixed with the occupants for safety and operational reasons.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has made significant capital funding available to the Irish Prison Service in order to enhance the existing prison infrastructure and to provide additional capacity.

In recent years, works have been completed to modernise the Mountjoy complex, a new prison was constructed in Cork and additional prisoner accommodation was provided in the Midlands Prison and Limerick Prison.