Mr. Michael Donnellan:

As the Deputy knows, the untimely and unfortunate death of the Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly, occurred in November 2016. The Department and the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality have decided that a new inspector will be appointed through the Public Appointments Service, PAS. The position will be advertised in the coming months and a new Inspector of Prisons will appointed through the PAS system. In the meantime, we have an individual in the Inspector of Prisons office who is acting in that capacity.