Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for appearing before us to share their expertise and experience. One of the things that came up in our previous session on this subject was the quality of the existing physical spaces and infrastructure. On the other hand, Cork is a prison that has had a modern rebuild. I have not seen this myself, but it has been said that the facilities there are of good quality, whereas Mountjoy might be in a less positive situation. Do many of the prisons require significant investment in respect of their education units and physical infrastructure? Aside from those aspects, is there also a need for significant investment in resources, whether in books, materials, technology or whatever? Is there a significant shortfall in this area?

To ensure these programmes are successful there must be certainty that it will be possible to recruit people of sufficient skill, expertise and experience. Are there challenges in this regard or is there a reasonably healthy stream of recruitment and retention at present?