Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am committed to addressing the issue of in-cell sanitation in line with the Government programme for national recovery. The recent report of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, CPT, acknowledged positive developments in the Irish prison system, such as the modernisation of the prison estate, the provision of additional spaces and the investment in rehabilitation services for prisoners. However, it was critical of a number of areas, including overcrowding and the continuing practice of slopping out in some of our prisons.

The latest report of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention on Mountjoy Prison, which became available on 24 March and we published this week, points to a sea change for the better in many respects. I will be supporting the prison's governor, Mr. Ned Whelan, and his staff in pursuing further improvements.

As matters currently stand, 72% of the prisoner accommodation has in-cell sanitation. I am informed that this will rise to in excess of 80% when the extension to the Midlands Prison, currently under construction, is opened in 2012. The project under way in the basement of C wing at Mountjoy Prison, which I saw when I visited the prison, will result in an additional 36 cells with in-cell sanitation coming on stream by mid-2011. The Irish Prison Service also recently awarded a contract to provide in-cell sanitation in the remaining 74 cells on that wing. Depending on the findings of a post project appraisal, the Prison Service will consider installing in-cell sanitation facilities in the remaining cells of that prison. The Prison Service is also currently appraising the logistical, financial, operational and other aspects of an outline proposal to provide in-cell sanitation in all cells in Cork Prison and all remaining cells in Limerick Prison that do not have such sanitation. This appraisal will be informed by the evaluation of the Mountjoy C wing project.

I will not be able to resolve the issue of cell sanitation overnight. In the short few weeks I have been in the job, we have made some progress. Cell sanitation has been a problem in our system for decades. However, I have just this week established a four-person committee to examine the need for new prison accommodation and to advise by 1 July whether work on the site at Thornton Hall should proceed. Its terms of reference specifically require it to take into account the need for an adequate stock of accommodation that meets required standards, including in particular in-cell sanitation. The terms also require the committee to look at alternatives to custody.

I would be happy to participate in a debate on the findings on prison conditions contained in the CPT report whether it be arranged for Private Members' time or otherwise, but I have to leave the arrangements for the provision of time for a debate to the Whips. I suggest that, if we do hold such a debate, it should have regard to the recently published Mountjoy report.

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