Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McCaffrey for the introduction and all that she has said. I agree with a lot of the aims and how the service is going about things.

Mental health issues in the prison population are reckoned to be approximately four times the national average, which is very worrying. Much of it is increased by alcohol, drugs, or otherwise, and dealing with that is difficult. What is the experience of the Prison Service in dealing with people with those mental health issues and disabilities in how they are assessed and identified? Is it often flagged up in advance by the courts or the service that this person has such-and-such an issue or does the service take it from scratch and look at each individual and assess them with the service's own teams?

Many people with disabilities also feel a great deal more isolated than most and will not engage with activities, with education, or otherwise. I would like to hear more about that issue.

We will also have those who refuse to engage, do not want to, or otherwise. How is that handled? Does the Prison Service take a special look at those individuals to try to analyse what is the best way to deal with them?

Is the service in a position with regard to prisoners with disabilities, whether it is mental health or physical, to have a cell for each one of these and, if necessary, the equipment that is required to help those people? Are there special cells laid out, as many of the jails, as mentioned by Ms McCaffrey, are outdated? I have experience of that myself. I am well used to looking at Portlaoise and Mountjoy prisons, and have seen the facilities there. How many of these facilities have been modernised and how far down the road is that given slopping-out was a feature of many of them? People with disabilities just could not handle that and even people with mental health issues struggled with it. How much progress has the service made in this regard?

There is a fear about people who self-harm or are in danger of suicide. What precautions are taken to deal with them where a special watch is kept on them? Is a special plan in place each time to deal with these cases? Could Ms McCaffrey elaborate on that because we have heard a great deal about suicide in prisons? We have also heard about people with mental health issues being picked on because many prisoners are not exactly sympathetic to anyone with a disability and they tend to be picked upon. How is that bullying is dealt with?

There seems to be a big shortage of training for prison officers and not enough staff are being educated, whether that is with respect to mental health, disabilities, or otherwise, in how these people are identified or dealt with. Can the witnesses comment on that issue?

My final question is in respect to immigrants. Are people available to engage with those who cannot speak English, or otherwise? In what way are special people identified to engage with such immigrants?