Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

The motion typifies the way the Opposition criticises everything the Government does and proposes no alternative. This is the approach the Opposition is currently adopting. The Opposition reminds me of a pack of jackals attacking a herd of mighty beasts. The jackals snipe and bite at loose prey until they get a good kick up the yard and they run away. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform gave the Opposition that good kick up the yard yesterday.

As Deputy Costello is aware, the inmates of Mountjoy are represented in great numbers by constituents of his own and constituents of mine. Their interests are very much in my heart in discussing this matter. I am sure they are also in the heart of Deputy Costello.

Deputy Costello and I visited Mountjoy in the not too distant past. We saw the facilities available in the men's prison whereby there is overcrowding, no toilet facilities and no facility for inmates to eat in a comfortable refectory and who must bring their food back to their cells. Young people are supposed to be rehabilitated in St. Patrick's Institution. They are supposed to have facilities to enable them to exercise, but there are none. Dóchas was a fantastic establishment when it was built, and it still is. However, it is too small. It is not sufficient for the numbers of female prisoners in Mountjoy. Even though the training unit is fairly new, it is not sufficient for modern-day use to train and rehabilitate prisoners who go there.

It must be ensured facilities are in place so people who do the crime also do the time. When the rainbow coalition Government was in power in the mid-1990s, the able and competent Minister for Justice, Nora Owen, tried to address this issue but the rug was pulled from under her by her colleagues in the Fine Gael and Labour parties.

The population is increasing and that will result in the need to accommodate more prisoners. Mountjoy Prison is not capable of accommodating that number of people. The job satisfaction of prison officers for the work they ably and completely do is an issue but their overtime bill must be reduced. Automatic gate opening and other modern practices must be embraced so that prison officers are not required to lock and unlock doors repeatedly. Procedures must be implemented, which will result in savings of €25 million per year in overtime. This would also allow prison officers to get more satisfaction from their work and would allow them to participate more in the rehabilitative process, which is needed in the prison system.

Drugs in prisons are also an issue. Unfortunately, drugs are prevalent in Mountjoy Prison. Given the prison campus is small access to drugs is too easy.

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