Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the average cost of keeping a person in prison in 2009, including current expenditure from all public sources using the methodology that was employed by the Irish Prison Service in determining this figure before it changed the method of calculation as outlined in the 2008 annual report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46623/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In 2008, I asked the Irish Prison Service to review their methodology for calculating the average annual cost of keeping an offender and to bring it more in line with other jurisdictions. The new methodology, which I approved, was introduced in time for the publication of the 2008 Annual Report.

It now excludes costs which are not under the direct control of the Irish Prison Service. Therefore, the teachers' salary costs are excluded from this exercise as these costs are not provided for under the Prisons budget allocation. Similarly, capital expenditure, including building/equipment assets and small works, is excluded from the calculations in the interest of facilitating comparison between prison types.

The Irish Prison Service no longer maintains all of the information required to readily recalculate the average cost of keeping an available staffed prison space using the previous methodology. To carry out such a recalculation would in any event require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort which could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.