Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To answer the Deputy's first question, we are currently going through a process. As he outlined, the current Inspector of Prisons will finish her work shortly. We are going through that process and hope to have a person recommended in the coming months or potentially weeks, and sooner rather than later. The increased funding is to acknowledge the significant work that is carried out by the Inspector of Prisons and to acknowledge the workload which is still increasing and will increase further, based on the OPCAT legislation the Deputy mentioned.

We have a framework for the Inspector of Prisons being developed. Launched in September 2020, it sets out how we conduct inspections of prisons in Ireland. It is informed by statutory underpinning of the legislation. We have national legislation relating to prisoners and prisoners' rights as well. All of this comes under the remit of the inspector. It also draws upon the relevant International human rights standards, in particular the preventative approach and standards set out by OPCAT and the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

In the next year or two, all places of detention will be included in the remit for the inspector, not just prisons but perhaps also Garda stations where people are detained. A number of things are happening in regard to upgrading our legislation, ratifying certain European protocols and ensuring that when this change takes place, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons will have the capacity to take on this additional workload on top of its already difficult workload. For this reason, the office's budget has been increased by €750,000, bringing it up to €1.954 million overall.