Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 56: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of mobile phone seizures in each prison here in the nine-month period from 1 January 2010 to 30 September 2010 and the action being taken to prevent the furnishing of mobile phones to prisoners [39466/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Section 36 of the Prisons Act, 2007, which was brought into operation on 1 May, 2007, makes it an offence for prisoners to have unauthorised possession of or use of mobile telecommunication devices. Under the Act it is also an offence to supply such a device to a prisoner. The penalties for such an offence, on summary conviction, include a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both. It is Irish Prison Service policy to report and hand over seizures of mobile phones to the Gardaí.

Other preventative measures include cell and area searches for contraband such as mobile phones which take place in all prisons on a daily basis. These include random, targeted and intelligence led searches. These searches have been particularly effective and local intelligence indicates that the availability of mobile phones has decreased across the prison system.

Figures for the number of mobile phone seizures at each prison, including seizures at point of entry, from 1 January 2010 up to and including 3 October 2010 are set out in the table below.