Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak about the briefing we received and the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General, particularly relating to the issues around the mess and the tuck shops. We have seen the coverage of this story in the press in recent weeks. It is a huge amount of money to have so little information about in terms of receipts. I see the Prison Service brought back the supervisory grade and that is to be commended but we are lagging in terms of change.

The knee-jerk reaction to these issues in the media will be for people to see things such as prisoners ordering steak and prosciutto and for it to be quite divisive. I will not do that. One of the points I want to make before going to the questions is that training people in catering is useful and has been a success in the Prison Service. Particularly in the workforce in Ireland, we need catering staff and it is a constant lack in our workforce. Therefore, I commend the Prison Service for focusing on it. I do not think anybody wants to see money being spent on items such as steak and prosciutto but within reason it should be supported. One of the points I want to make is that I hope these processes and a new focus on procurement do not begin a race to the bottom and cost-cutting in areas that would affect the training because it is very important that it is supported.

One of my questions is on the new procurement and requisitioning system. Where is the progress on this? We have been given a number of details on how it would look. One of the issues in dealing with the level of supplies the Prison Service will be looking at is local purchasing processes and issues such as community wealth building. Within these new procurement measures, has the Prison Service considered issues such as community wealth building and local buying? There is a large prison in my constituency of Dublin Central and it is embedded in the community. It does have a huge impact on the local community. Has this been considered?