Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Ceist:247 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total annual cost for prisoner escorts in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. [24581/03]
Written Answers. - Prisoner Escorts.
The need to escort prisoners outside penal institutions arises routinely in a number of contexts. The costs involved would comprise staff payroll costs including staff overtime costs, subsistence, and other allowances, as well as transportation costs.
The current financial system which is being revised does not, at this juncture, enable the various costs apportioned to all of these escort activities to be comprehensively identified. Therefore, I am not in a position to provide the information sought on the total annual cost of prisoner escorts for the years stated by the Deputy.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Ceist:248 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the research his Department has conducted into the costs of prisoner escort; the costs of contracting this service out to private companies; and the potential strategies for cost saving while maintaining this service within the public sector. [24582/03]
A study of the prisoner transportation system was carried out in 2000 by a prisoner transportation review group comprising officials from the Irish Prison Service, the Courts Service and the Garda Síochána. It was chaired by a former Garda chief superintendent with a logistics background. Their report formed the background to a further review of the escort and transportation of prisoners in 2001-2002 which was carried out by a staffing and operations review team, SORT. In 2002, this review was in turn followed by further examination of prisoner escort patterns across the Prison Service in the context of the overall staffing and operations review project and the preparation of a proposal for negotiation with the staff side. The focus of all these reviews was to explore more efficient ways to undertake the escort function.
The Irish Prison Service has proposed that the escort function should be provided from within the service by a centrally managed escort corps which would rationalise the way in which escorts are conducted. This is one element of a composite proposal for change to eliminate the perennial overtime problem in the Prison Service which has been put to the staff side and is currently the subject of a ballot.
Pending the outcome of that ballot it would be inappropriate to speculate on the potential cost or cost savings impact in adopting an alternative approach to the provision of prisoner escort services. As to what it would cost to contract out this service, this would be entirely dependent on the scope of the service proposed for outsourcing and on the outcome of a tendering process.
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Ceist:249 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the research his Department has conducted into the experience of privatised prisoner transport in other jurisdictions; and his views on the evidence. [24583/03]
A study of the prisoner transportation system was carried out in 2000 by a prisoner transportation review group comprising officials from the Irish Prison Service, the Courts Service and the Garda Síochána. As part of the review, the officials visited the United Kingdom prison service to develop a general understanding of the issues involved, but no detailed research was undertaken into the experience of privatised prisoner transport in other jurisdictions.