Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The in-cell sanitation programme has been completed on wings A, B and C. The works required in D wing will be undertaken this year. By the time we get to mid- or late 2014, there will be in-cell sanitation throughout the prison. The work that the Deputy should have seen when he was there will transform the prison. For completeness, I will also deal with Cork Prison. I visited Cork Prison very soon after being appointed Minister. The staff there, under the Governor, do extraordinary work in very difficult conditions. Cork Prison is a poorly-constructed facility in which we cannot provide in-cell sanitation. In my view, the facilities for education, training and re-training are also inadequate. That is why we are going ahead with Cork Prison. The construction on the prison should be complete by mid-2015. I mentioned in my opening address that all works will be complete by the end of 2015. Once the construction is complete, there will be a fitting out stage before it can be used. Then we will have a prison in Cork with in-cell sanitation and the existing prison will cease to operate. Thereafter, there will be fewer than 100 cells across the prison service which do not have in-cell sanitation, in Limerick and Portlaiose prisons. It is my determination that we address those as well. We have been transforming the prisons in the country since 2011 so that we will have a prison structure that is appropriate in the 21st century and not based on the 19th century, one that respects human rights and that ensures that those serving sentences are treated in an appropriate manner. We are working to meet the standards which, as a State, we should adhere to.