Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will probably take less than that. I want to come back to the suggestion I made earlier to the committee. I am not confident that the Prison Service has addressed the issues raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General in a timely manner. There are the issues surrounding the staff mess. There does not seem to be adequate record keeping. There is the issue of the funds that should be solely for the benefit of prisoners being used for other purposes. These situations are not ordinary in any organisation, let alone when they carry on for years through subsequent reviews. I therefore suggest that the committee recommend that the Minister for Justice request that the Inspector of Prisons carry out an investigation of these irregularities. Perhaps this time around a final, single report from that office will achieve what the Department of Justice and the Irish Prison Service cannot. As I said, this has been going on for years. We are back here each year raising the same issues. Successive Comptrollers and Auditors General have flagged up the same irregularities. Therefore, for once and for all I would like the committee to support the recommendation that we write to the Minister requesting-----