Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have been talking about the whole Prison Service, the fact that we have increasing numbers in prison and the process when people are discharged from prison.

Have we enough connection between the various support agencies once a person is discharged from prison? We are talking about costs and this committee is dealing with public accounts and the cost to the State. Could we be doing a far better job when people are discharged from prison so they have the necessary support? I go back to a project I was involved with in Cork for a number of years. Where young people got into minor difficulties with the Garda, gardaí referred them to a training centre at a very early stage, and we would then help to give them a skill so they could go on and get a job. Have we done enough in that whole area for people who are physically in prison and are then discharged from prison? There are a lot of jobs they cannot go for. Should we be focusing not only on jobs but also on accommodation when they are discharged, especially now, when accommodation is so difficult for them to get?