Mr. Fergal Black:

The Irish Prison Service has gone to considerable lengths both in trying to stop contraband from getting into prisons and in providing appropriate treatment services for people who have addictions while in prison. We have canine units, nets, search procedures and all of those things. The reality is that it is almost impossible to stop drugs from getting into prison. There is a situation in which families are under significant pressure to bring in drugs from all sorts of sources. We are very conscious of that.

The training unit in Mountjoy does not have in-cell sanitation and we were looking at it. It offers a drug-free location for people. Given that our numbers have fallen, we have to consider the growing number of older individuals in custody when developing our overall infrastructure. The number has risen from a very small base, but today we have about 250 people over 55 years of age. International research shows that older prisoners compare unfavourably with their counterparts in the community. Old age would be at 55 rather than 65. We have decided to refurbish the training unit as a facility for older prisoners. We are going to refurbish that over the next 18 months and ensure that we develop a state-of-the-art facility for older prisoners which meets their needs.

We will then relocate the current facility in the training unit into what was the old St. Patrick's Institution but will continue the same regime within that. Our intention is to continue to offer a facility for people who are not involved in drugs and for people who have addressed their substance misuse and to effectively operate in the same was as we have always done.