Mr. Fergal Black:

I thank the Vice Chairman. Today, there are 3,838 persons in custody. People in prisons, while isolated for a period of time, remain an integral part of our communities. Prisons are an extension of our communities and issues that impact people in the wider community also affect those in custody in the same way.

Diversity exists within our population. Today, there are people in custody from the ages of 18 to 88. There are almost 600 people in prison who are not identified as Irish, with more than 200 prisoners from outside Europe. Relevant to today’s discussion, we know that a disproportionately large number of people in custody recognise themselves as Travellers.

The director general of the Irish Prison Service, Ms Caron McCaffrey, attended the recent Travellers in Prison Initiative, TPI, national conference and spoke on behalf of the Irish Prison Service. Ms McCaffrey's feedback was that she appreciated the opportunity to hear directly about the lived experiences of Travellers who have been in prison. The powerful messages she heard about their experiences can help us to move forward to become a more aware and inclusive prison service.

I acknowledge our partners in the TPI, the St. Stephen’s Green Trust and the Probation Service and commend the co-operative approach taken to moving forward the issues that arise for Travellers in the criminal justice sector. Through our partnership over the past six years, we have taken some positive steps forward. Peer support services have been developed in four prisons and mediation in eight prisons, which we hope to develop further now that Covid-19 restrictions are reducing. Traveller liaison teachers have been identified, especially in the Dublin area, to support greater access to prison education services and the adaptation of education services for Travellers. Traveller pride events have been hosted and awareness training was introduced for new prison staff on the issues arising for Travellers and areas of discrimination. Electronic means have been developed to capture ethnicity information in a systematic way. Traveller volunteers were trained for the Red Cross programme in prisons.

The Irish Prison Service acknowledges that we have more work to do with regard to equality and diversity and to prevent discrimination in our service. In late 2019, a new equality, diversity and inclusion lead for the Irish Prison Service, Mr. Séamus Beirne, was appointed and he joins us today. Mr. Beirne's role has recently been broadened to include responsibility for services for Travellers in prison. Broadening our knowledge of the lived experiences of prisoners from all backgrounds in relation to their experience of the Irish prison system will form an integral part of the equality and diversity brief in 2022. The Irish Prison Service intends to carry out a survey of prisoners in 2022 to get a greater insight to the lived experiences, so we can introduce targeted local and national responses in areas where we need to develop. Moreover, the Irish Prison Service is continuing to raise awareness amongst staff about Traveller issues. Mr. Beirne recently commenced a number of roadshows with staff in prisons and we expect that this is the beginning of a number of continuing conversations with staff on this area.

The Irish Prison Service has set out to deliver bespoke initiatives for prisoners targeting different groups such as older prisoners and younger prisoners. There are a number of specific initiatives aimed at supporting members of the Traveller community in our prisons. I will mention some of these briefly. A successful mediation programme has been in operation in Castlerea Prison since 2016. This programme is a partnership between the midlands Traveller conflict mediation service, the Red Cross, the Travellers in Prison Initiative and Castlerea Prison school. It is a hugely successful programme aimed at conflict awareness.

Mediation is an effective way of resolving disputes and can resolve even the most complex, intractable disputes. The programme has since been extended to other prisons, including Midlands Prison, Loughan House, the Dóchas Centre and Cork Prison. While the roll-out has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of prison education centres have expressed a willingness to introduce a similar programme in the future.

Throughout each sentence, we must take steps to ensure we give prisoners the best possible opportunity to reintegrate themselves into society by imparting life skills to put them back on the road to being good citizens again. Prisons are full of poor people. They are not just poor economically, but also poor emotionally, educationally, socially and in the context of their health status. Many have difficulty regulating their emotions. Typically, people committed to custody are young men aged 18 to 35 who have fallen out of education or training and who have fallen out of society into prison. The most effective intervention with someone in prison is the relationship with staff. This builds relationships. The relationship is an instrument to take offenders into a space where they begin to own some of their behaviours and take responsibility.

I will mention the first aid programme known as the Red Cross programme. In recent years, this peer-led programme has seen success in our prisons. It was introduced in 2009 under a partnership between the Irish Red Cross, the Irish Prison Service, Education and Training Boards Ireland and the Probation Service. This innovative programme trains prisoners as Red Cross volunteers who develop projects aimed at improving their community, the prison community. The idea is to learn in the classroom and educate their peers on the landings. The notion of peer-to-peer education among a prisoner population is a powerful one since prisoners will listen to other prisoners before they will listen to prison staff. To date, more than 1,500 prisoners have been trained in the Red Cross programme and many of these have been members of the Traveller community, who note that the peer-led approach is particularly attractive to them. It also allows the opportunity for Travellers in prison to take a more proactive role in looking after their health and well-being and the well-being of others in their prison community.

I will highlight some of the initiatives undertaken. With the Red Cross, we have developed a conflict resolution workshop in Castlerea, which is facilitated by Traveller men and aims to develop intervention skills and address some of the commonest issues that can lead to Traveller-on-Traveller violence in prisons. Volunteer groups in many prisons have participated in projects aimed at encouraging Travellers to attend school and to speak openly about their experiences of school in prison. During the Covid pandemic, work by the Red Cross volunteers with Travellers in prisons has been important in respect of vaccine awareness and promotion. Peer educators serve as positive role models that reinforce behavioural change, and peer education has been recognised as an important tool to educate populations that are hard to reach. To this end, work is ongoing to facilitate a Red Cross course within an identified Traveller group in the wider community. Working with our colleagues in the Probation Service, we hope to identify Traveller Red Cross volunteers who have left prison and who will work with Travellers in the community though the Travellers in Prison Initiative.

I will briefly mention the opening of the equine unit in Castlerea Prison. This is an exciting and innovative collaboration between the Irish Prison Service and the horse community. The programme being run in the equine centre, which is the first of its kind in Europe, will target all prisoners, but early indications have pointed to a significant level of interest in the programme from Traveller men in Castlerea and in other locations. The programme commenced in August and prisoners from Castlerea Prison attend the equine centre, which is outside the walls, daily. We currently have seven horses and are engaged in the horse care and welfare programme. The course, which is delivered in collaboration with the education unit in Castlerea Prison, is specially designed for delivery to students with literacy issues and is delivered visually with voice-over, assisted by the use of diagrams.

Importantly, this is an accredited programme which has been endorsed by the Racing Academy and Centre of Education, RACE, the organisation which trains jockeys. The equine programme can have a positive impact on physical and mental well-being, offer preparation for employment and, ultimately, make the community safer through a reduction in reoffending. It can teach compassion through the care of a living animal, and we are confident that, through our association with the horse racing industry, which has raised more than €120,000 towards this innovative programme, we can gain employment in the industry for prisoners who engage in the programme as stablehands and so on.

I again thank the committee for the opportunity to participate and I am happy to answer any questions after my colleagues have spoken.