Ms Saoirse Brady:

The Irish Penal Reform Trust gets invited to training for prisoner officer recruits every six weeks or so, but it is an hour-long session and one can only say so much in that time. The Traveller Mediation Service goes in too. They do have that training as a once-off at the beginning but - please correct me if I am wrong - we must consider the culture piece in particular. For example, I have spoken to people from a policing background who said it is all very well doing something when a person is a recruit but we need to go back a year later when they have been in the system for a time, especially if there are ingrained prejudices or biases that they might pick up. Many people have retired from the Prison Service. There are a lot of new people coming in. That is good but it means they are taking on a great deal of responsibility very quickly as well. We really need to address that.

The Prison Service was one of the first bodies that signed up to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission public sector duty training when it emerged initially. It was involved in one of the first pilots. There is definitely a willingness to engage but it needs to be done regularly, it needs to be systemic and, as Ms Costello said, it needs to come from the top.