Ms Caron McCaffrey:

On the Deputy's second question on whether we have enough information on people on committal, in some case people will present with a diagnosis. Often, people who come in contact with the criminal justice system and end up in an Irish prison have a particular underlying need diagnosed and identified for the first time.

I refer in particular to education. The average school leaving age of everybody in custody today is 14 and a significant number of people in our care have issues in terms of learning disabilities, in particular dyslexia, and have never had a diagnosis in the community. For me, it is very sad that if somebody finds themselves in an adult education setting in a prison, their educational needs are identified. When we speak to the men and women concerned, they have spent their whole lives growing up believing there is something wrong with them, that they are stupid and have had labels assigned to them which almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Getting a diagnosis opens up many possibilities for them, including accepting that they just learn differently and there is nothing wrong with them. People are thriving and achieving huge amounts, including gaining basic literacy and numeracy skills, within our prisons. Those assessments should be done at an early stage in our communities in order that people do not find themselves in contact with the criminal justice system and fall out of mainstream education because of a learning disability.

We are cognisant that the level of screening we have in place is not sufficient to pick up on all of the issues people might present with. It should not be the case that somebody presents in a custodial setting to be screened and diagnosed with a disability. Screening, diagnosis and the supports the person requires need to be given at a community level. I will ask our head of psychology, Dr. Regan, to speak to the Deputy about the work we do in our psychology service in terms of screening and diagnosis.