Marian Harkin
Ceist:205 Ms Harkin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason Amnesty International is denied access to Irish prisons. [23969/02]
Vol. 558 No. 2
205 Ms Harkin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason Amnesty International is denied access to Irish prisons. [23969/02]
219 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he refused Amnesty International the opportunity to visit Irish prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24057/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 205 and 219 together.
A proposal for a research project on racism in Irish prisons has been the subject of correspondence and contact between my Department and the Irish Penal Reform Trust and Amnesty International for some time.
The initial application in the matter was contained in a letter of 21 September 2001 from the IPRT to the director general of the Irish Prisons Service. The director general replied on the same day expressing regret that it was not possible to facilitate the trust on that occasion. The reasons outlined were that a very similar research project was just under way and it would not be fair to people in custody to have two sets of researchers engage with them on similar research at the same time. It has since become apparent that the project proposed by the IPRT would be a joint venture with Amnesty International.