asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline the Government's attitude in regard to facilitating access by Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and the general public to prisons; if he is satisfied with the present position regarding access; and if he has any plans to introduce changes in these respects.
Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - Prison Access .
23.
: The Government are in favour of allowing public representatives, journalists and people who are professionally associated with prison work to have reasonable access to the prisons and other places of detention.
Public representatives have visited prisons in the past. In 1977 I invited the leaders of the Fine Gael and Labour Parties to nominate members of their parliamentary parties who would receive an invitation from me to visit all of the country's prisons. That invitation was not taken up. I am at present considering applications from individual Deputies, including the Deputy himself, to visit some places. I will be in touch with them shortly.
When I took up office I invited the editors of the newspapers and representatives of RTE to tour the prisons and other places of detention. The invitation was accepted and the visits were extensively reported. Other journalists have made visits to particular places since then. I have just authorised a tour by another journalist.
People with a professional association with prison work have always been allowed reasonable access to the relevant institutions. Free access by the general public, apart from normal visits to prisoners, would not be feasible because it would make the maintenance of good order and security impossible. Moreover, it would be a serious invasion of the privacy of prisoners who are entitled to reasonable anonymity while serving their sentences.
A visiting committee, composed of persons of standing in local communities, is appointed in respect of each prison and place of detention. Essentially their function is to act as watchdogs on behalf of the general public to ensure that prisoners are treated properly.
: I ask the Minister to recheck his records. If he does so he will find that his interpretation of an invitation to leaders of the parties is not in accordance with the facts. The individual spokesmen were invited; my predecessor in this spokesmanship, Deputy O'Keeffe, took up the offer. I wish to ask the Minister how long he has been considering my request.
: There are outstanding applications from the Deputy and others——
: Since when?
: The position is that the Deputy will receive a reply shortly. I have no intention of going into the matter further now.
: Does the Minister of State deny that I first asked his Department nearly 12 months ago—last December—arising out of his senior Minister's statement in this House that he would afford access to any spokesman of a party. I have had an acknowledgment of my request but nothing else despite my best efforts. I was forced to put down this question to get some movement from the Department. Will the Minister tell the House if that is the case or if it is not the case?
: The Deputy made the request and he knows the facts.
: Surely the Minister of State can answer the question?
: I am giving the situation as it stands. The Deputy will receive a reply shortly and I am sure he will be satisfied.
: Does the Minister of State accept the right of a public representative or of any Member of this House to reasonable access to institutions that have been set up in the public interest and that are funded totally by public money? Further, does he accept that it should not be necessary to grovel in front of him or his senior Minister in order to achieve that access in the public interest? I am not particularly grateful for getting a "yes" after 12 months of trying by the normal methods.
: Will the Minister of State tell the House if there were special conditions attaching to such an invitation to Members of the Oireachtas?
: Perhaps the Deputy would put down a separate question. My information is that an invitation was offered and it was not accepted.
: A closed shop again.