Ms Saoirse Brady:

We understand that the decision to publish rests with the Minister for Justice. These inspections have been carried out and they are routinely carried out by the inspector of prisons but they have not been published. We did see very detailed inspection reports published around Covid-19 on all the different prisons. They have been incredibly useful and informative because we think there should be transparency and these reports should be published. That would lend us real oversight into what is happening in a prison. We also understand that the legislation to put in place a national preventative mechanism to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is imminent. I understand that it is imminent. That would broaden things out to ensure that people who were detained in health facilities would also fall in the remit of that new preventative mechanism that would be co-ordinated by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. That is something to look at and something we have often called for.

The UN Human Rights Committee is examining Ireland next week in Geneva under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We have made a submission on that which deals with some of those issues. We can send that to the committee.