The Director General of the Irish Prison Service is authorised under the Public Service Management Act 1997 to lead, manage and direct the prison service on a day-to-day basis. He gave an instruction, which was within his remit, in the immediate aftermath of the incident that, for operational reasons, the holding cells in Mountjoy Prison would be closed with immediate effect and that they would no longer accommodate prisoners. In common with a large number of day-to-day operational decisions, I was made aware of the Director General's instruction in due course.
I can assure the Deputy that this decision was in no way an attempt at any sort of cover up. Mr Michael Mellett, who is undertaking an independent investigation into the events leading to the death of Mr. Douch, had concluded his examination of the area prior to any action being taken to convert the cells for alternative usage. The same position applies in relation to the Garda investigation into the incident. The Garda had indicated that it had no further requirement of the crime scene for its criminal investigation.