Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will note and publish the correspondence as we want to balance the discussion. There has been much debate about returns to the State. It is clear that on an investment of €1.59 million by Enterprise Ireland, it received €4.5 million in return. That helps to complete the picture on the matter.

The next item is No. 1939B, correspondence received in connection with the national children's hospital. As we have a large volume of items in that regard, we will note and discuss the correspondence with all of the other correspondence received on the national children's hospital. No. 1940B is also correspondence related to the national children's hospital.

No. 1942B is correspondence, dated 7 February 2019, received from Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll, Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, providing follow-up information requested by the committee at an earlier meeting. What is provided includes information requested from the Irish Prison Service. There are three items outstanding which the secretariat will be monitoring. I will make a brief observation and know that other members wish to comment. There has been much public criticism of us by another Oireachtas committee asking these questions, but I wish to put in context the reasons we are asking them. There is a complication as the issues are within the remit of the justice committee, but equally they are within the remit of this committee. Some committees of the Houses believe that if a matter is within their remit, it cannot come within ours, but there are matters that fall within the remit of more than one committee. We must deal with that issue. If a topic falls within the remit of a line committee, it should not necessarily be excluded from the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts. I will not get into the detail as I know members wish to comment on the issue.

We followed up with the State Claims Agency on the matter of medical negligence and the cost of claims against the State. There are approximately 1,685 such claims against the Irish Prison Service from current and former prisoners which may bring a serious cost to the State. We were acting within our remit in inquiring about the background and matters such as how prisoners were dealt with while imprisoned. There are also concerns about potential medical claims, which is why we asked about the medical service. We asked about the level of prisoner injury and compensation claims. The reply from the Department of Justice and Equality is that the information is awaited from the State Claims Agency. The fact that the agency is dealing with the matter is proof that it is very much one within our remit. We also asked about cases being taken against the State on the issue I mentioned. That request is with the State Claims Agency. We asked for details of compensation paid in cases where prisoners had harmed themselves. Again, the Department is awaiting information from the agency. We asked for information on compensation payments related to protected disclosures. Again, information is awaited from the agency.

We were concerned about the health of prisoners as if the State was not providing adequate medical services, it might well lead to compensation claims against it. We want such matters to be dealt with. I was shocked by the response to one of the questions asked. We asked about the number of prisoners with mental health or drug dependency issues, including the percentage of prisoners who passed through the system every year on medication or prescriptions. The reply states: "Information on the level of mental health conditions in the prison population is derived from studies done in 2003 and 2005". If information is based on 15 year old studies, it is utterly unacceptable and possibly on the negligent side of things. That is if this is the most up-to-date information available. The reply also states the rate of prescribing in the Irish Prison Service is "currently" - the letter dates from last week - 63% of the total number of prisoners in custody. They have an active prescription which indicates that serious issues may arise at a later date. The reply gives the cost of maintaining a prisoner in a high security prison, a medium security prison and an open prison. The average cost was €68,535 in 2017.