Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 9 Mar 1999

Vol. 501 No. 6

Written Answers. - Prison Reports.

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

350 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the year for which the latest published report is available from the appropriate visiting committee in the case of each of the Irish prisons; if Ireland has the largest number of women prisoners; the number of Irish prisoners each year since 1987; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6829/99]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

All visiting committee reports for the years up to 1997, although not officially published, are readily available on request from my Department in accordance with the provisions of the Visiting Committee Act, 1925. Reports for the years up to 1994 have been formally published.

The report of the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics for 1996, the earliest year for which such figures were published, shows that there were 48 female prisoners in custody in Irish prisons at the time of the survey. This represented 2.2 per cent of the total Irish prison population on that day. The Deputy will see from the table I have forwarded to him that the number of females as a percentage of the total prison population was lower in Ireland that in any of the other countries surveyed. It may be of interest to the Deputy to know the highest percentage was 9 per cent. At unlock on Friday, 5 March there were 83 female prisoners in custody representing 3 per cent of the total Irish prison population.

A table showing the daily average prison population 1983-97 and the trend in committals 1983-97 has been forwarded to the Deputy. The daily average prison population for 1998 is 2,567 and the provisional total number of committals for 1998 is 11,648.