Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

-----I find it astounding that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should come to the House and say he met a prisoner who said, "Minister, everything is all right here", that he should accept that and place it on the record of this House over and above the comments of Mr. Justice Michael Reilly who stated last September that the situation in Mountjoy was unsafe and dangerous.

I put it to the Minister that as well as the overcrowding of which he speaks, as do we, the figures actually speak for themselves. The situation is exacerbated and the entire criminal justice system brought into disrepute when there are 940 inmates, or 18% - almost one in five - of the prison population currently at large, on temporary release for no other reason than there not being sufficient prison space in the form of accommodation to house them.

I ask the Minister to accept there is a crisis under his watch. He does himself and his Government no service by saying in this Chamber that he met a prisoner in Mountjoy who said, "Keep it up, it's reasonable. Everything is all right". The Minister is refusing to accept there is a crisis of unprecedented scale in the prison system, with almost one in five prisoners out and 11 of the 15 custodial institutions of the State currently experiencing overcrowding to an unprecedented degree, giving rise to a situation where the independent inspector of prisons, a judge of some repute, nine months ago, before the crisis became as bad as it now is, is on record as saying Mountjoy is unsafe and dangerous. The Minister is happy with the situation.

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