The Vote for the present financial year shows a net decrease of £12,647 on the amount voted last year. No provision has been made in the Estimate this year for expenses of the Headquarter Staff. In December last the General Prisons Board was dissolved and its powers and functions were transferred to the Minister for Justice and the Office of the General Prisons Board was abolished. The administrative work in connection with prisons is now done in the Headquarters Office of the Ministry of Justice. As a result of the rearrangement of the administrative staff consequent on the abolition of the Board, an annual saving between £1,500 and £2,000 has been effected. This is in addition to the decrease of £12,647 shown in the Estimate. Sub-head A, "Pay and Allowances of Officers," shows a decrease of £3,638 mainly as a result of certain reductions in the Prisons Staff which it has been possible to effect. In Sub-head B, "Victualling," owing to the steady decrease in the number of prisoners, it was estimated that during the current financial year provision need only be made for 735 as against 800 last year, and there has consequently been a reduction of £1,660. In Sub-head C, "Clothing, Bedding and Furniture," there is a reduction of £220:
In Sub-head D, "Medicines," there is no alteration. In Sub-head E, "Fuel, Light and Water," there is a reduction of £770. The figure for fuel, light and water is made up as follows: fuel £4,350, light £2,700, water £700. In Sub-head F, "Rents," there is no change. The amount of £205 is made up as follows: Clonmel Borstal Institution. £139, Sligo £52, Kilmainham £7 and Daingean £6. Sub-head G, "Escort and Conveyance of Prisoners" bears the cost of escort and conveyance of all prisoners after the first order of committal is made until final discharge from prison. As a consequence of arrangements with the railway companies for the granting of special facilities to members of the Gárda Síochána and prison officers escorting prisoners, it is hoped that it will be possible to effect a considerable saving in this sub-head, which shows a reduction of £2,250 as compared with last year. Sub-head H, "Ordinary Repairs," shows a reduction of £200. HH is a new sub-head which provides for certain sewerage improvements at Portlaoighise. The present system is very defective and has given rise to many complaints. The local authorities are now laying down a sewer outside the prison and the sum of £450 is provided in the Estimate for the purpose of effecting the necessary modifications in the present sewerage system to enable it to be connected with the new sewer.
Sub-heads I, J, K, L, M, N, O, and P, call for no special consideration. Sub-head N, shows a reduction of £1,000. That is in consequence of the decrease in the number of criminal lunatics in District Mental Hospitals. Sub-head Q shows a decrease of £5,000 in the estimated amounts which will be required for the purchase of raw material for the manufacturing department and for the farm. It will be, however, observed, that this decrease is offset by a corresponding increase shown in the Sub-head R—Appropriations-in-Aid—in the anticipated receipts from the manufacturing department and the farm. Last year a sum of £3,500 was provided for the purchase and the enclosure of additional land at Portlaoighise Prison. It was found impossible to acquire the necessary land by negotiation at a reasonable figure and the proposal has been dropped for the present. The owners of land in the neighbourhood of the prison were asking what seemed to be a prohibitive price for their land, a price far and away above the market value of the land and in the circumstances we considered it better, although this is a reform which I think would be a very great reform, to defer the scheme until we can purchase land at its real value. Of course, Deputies understand that if persons—one can hardly, in a way, blame them—think that a purchaser is frightfully keen to get possession, they run up the price. They want to get very much more than the articles which they are selling are really worth. I am afraid that that is a consideration which strikes the mind just as forcibly when the Government is the purchaser as when private individuals are the purchasers.