Vol. 502 No. 1
45 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the delay in publishing the report of the Director of Medical Services at Mountjoy Jail; the steps, if any, he will take to deal with the issues highlighted in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7083/99]
Perhaps first of all, I should explain that the Director of Prison Medical Services is the official in my Department with responsibility for the delivery of medical service to the whole of the prison system and not just to Mountjoy Prison. It is not, and has never been, the policy of my Department to publish or release internal reports prepared by an official of the Department for the Minister in charge of the Department. Consequently, the reports of the Director of Prisons Medical Service have not been published to date.
A Freedom of Information request was received on 14 August 1998 in my Department in relation to the 1997 Annual Report of the Director of Prison Medical Services. Both the deciding officer and the appeals officer decided that the request for access to the report in question should be refused under sections 20 and 21 of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, as the report contained information relating to deliberative processes of my Department and details of sensitive industrial relations negotiations which were still ongoing. This decision was appealed last October to the Information Commissioner. Following consultation between my Department, the applicant and the Information Commissioner agreed recently to release the report in part and this is now available on request.
