Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I congratulate the Minister on his first occasion to take parliamentary questions in his new office and wish him well for however long he occupies that important position.

Does the Minister accept he made an extraordinary admission when he said the conditions outlined in the Kinlen report were allowed to happen because budgets were being cannibalised to pay for overtime? As Minister, he allowed a situation to arise where, for example, parts of Mountjoy were being sprayed twice a week to keep mice and cockroaches at bay. Overcrowding was such that an individual who asked for protection was brutally murdered after being put in a cell with six other prisoners, including one who had recently arrived from the Central Mental Hospital.

The violence in Mountjoy over the summer, which included two deaths in 12 hours and four stabbings in three weeks, was allowed to take place. Does the Minister think it is acceptable to tell the House that he has resolved an overtime issue and, therefore, the horror stories which had been laid out in graphic and unimaginable terms in the Kinlen report were allowed because budgets were being cannibalised?

Has the Minister received the findings of the independent inquiry by former senior official, Mr. Michael Mellet, into the dreadful murder of Gary Douch and what are the main recommendations contained therein?

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