Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I will give Mountjoy Prison as an example. The investment in Mountjoy Prison has enabled the elimination of the slopping out practice there and allowed significant reductions in overcrowding, as have capital programmes of investment in Cork Prison and Limerick Prison. Preliminary works have started in Limerick Prison which involved a boundary wall to facilitate the courts PPP development there, and then the development of the prison, which has started earlier than anticipated.

The practice of slopping out will be completely eliminated when the work that needs to be done in Portlaoise Prison is finalised. That is some time ahead but there is a continuous programme of investment in the prisons, as members can see from the capital outflow into that area. Portlaoise Prison will be included when the money becomes available and that will mean the practice of slopping out will have ended.