Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There were a lot of good questions there. I might stay with the technical ones first.

The reason the spend on buildings is down is simply due to the completion of Limerick prison. Those works are now finished. I asked the same thing of the prisoner support services because the spend on them is down. I wanted to check that that was not an issue we should be concerned about. It is a reduction in Covid-related funding. Obviously, quite rightly, temporary Covid funding went in and now has come out. I am happy to provide any further notes on that.

I will get the committee the latest recruitment and staffing levels and prisoner number levels from my colleague here. I am pleased - in fairness, Deputy Kenny has acknowledged this - that we are experiencing a good pattern of recruitment to the Irish Prison Service. I am excited about attending at the end of this month a graduation for prison officers at which 131 are due to graduate. It is a real testament to the Irish Prison Service and the stakeholders for the good work being done on recruitment. I commend the director general and others on that.

I have a table here detailing current levels of prison staffing. As of November 2022, which is the date for the most up-to-date figures we have, there were 3,494 people working in the Prison Service: 3,256 in what we call prison grades, 73.25 in non-prison grades, which are made up of doctors, chaplains and psychologists, and just over 164 headquarter staff - in other words, 3,256 prison-type staff, 73 in the non-prison grades, very important support staff and services, and 164 in headquarters. I am looking forward to the graduation ceremony for 131 new officers at the end of this month. I take Deputy Kenny's point, though, and he is right to make it. There are lies, damned lies and statistics. While I am not telling a lie, we do need to scratch the surface sometimes. I was in Cloverhill recently and met the team there. There is very good work going on, but there are specific areas within the Prison Service where we must do more and do better. I think it is largely around the issue of health. Nursing was an issue I came across. The committee has given me some ideas and suggestions, which I will reflect on. I have been talking to those in the Irish Prison Service and others about that. We have just over 4,400 prisoners within Irish prisons today.

As for the issue of penal reform and Deputy Ó Ríordáin's and Deputy Kenny's questions, I am very conscious that while I am currently the Minister for Justice, I am also the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the latter Department has responsibility for prison education.