Mr. Eoin Carroll:

Wheatfield Prison was meant to be a work and training prison. Within the context of the prison system, it was innovative. It wanted small units in which prisoners could self-manage. There were units divided in eight or ten. Older prisoners are a real issue. I do not want to say what is being done is wrong because what the Irish Prison Service is doing for older prisoners is positive. Having said that, there may now be an even bigger gap. I am not too sure whether we should be regarding some prisons as work and training prisons. If so, what are all the other prisons?

When I look back at reports, including the report of 2000 which included recommendations about new prisons, I note that we must undertake what was described as a security audit. This means that we need to determine, based on the current prisoner population, the level of security needed for that group. Leaving aside where they are now, what security levels do we need? Mr. Kevin Warner and others have constantly been saying we need open prisons. Bizarrely, because the numbers have dropped in the prison system, it now looks as if we have more prisoners in open prisons. Proportionately, we do. The figure is approximately 5% to 7%. In Scandinavian countries is about 30%.

Any future infrastructural development within the prison service should involve the use of more innovative, community-based, semi-open facilities.

Cork Prison was a missed opportunity because it defaulted back to an old model of prison architecture.