Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

In addition to that, the Tánaiste sees himself as a man quite apart from his Cabinet colleagues and in some respects he is. There is no guarantee the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform would amend the plans for a prison development on foot of the submissions made to the rapporteur. What surety does the public have that their concerns will be taken on board? This is an example of the Tánaiste paying lip service to democracy and public consultation. I hope the Tánaiste will limit himself with this tendency.

An independent body such as An Bord Pleanála needs to have a central role in such a process. It is not acceptable for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to be judge and jury on such important and potentially controversial matters. It is also worth noting that this part of the Bill neatly complements the Tánaiste's self-professed desire to building holding pens where certain asylum seekers are to be placed while they await the processing of their applications. The Tánaiste should concentrate his efforts on improving the lot of asylum seekers rather than imprisoning them. There is a resonance with internment that was used on this island within living memory. I am concerned the Tánaiste may be applying the same principle to asylum seekers. Perhaps, as Deputy Howlin pointed out, he was just flying a kite. I suspect there is a lot of that around. However, it is a dangerous kite to fly.

Part 5 of the Bill provides for the establishment of an Office of Inspector of Prisons on a statutory basis, on which matter the Green Party has been pressing the Tánaiste to act for some time and we welcome it. However, I have a number of concerns. For instance, Part 5 refers only to the Inspector of Prisons and makes no reference to an Office of the Inspector of Prisons. Will the inspector have the right to establish an office and hire staff to carry out his or her duties in an efficient and professional manner? The existing inspector has been dealt with in a very demeaning way. It is clear from his reports that there have been difficulties in establishing secretarial support and in simply getting the kind of support an inspector of drains would have had 20 years ago. We need to move further in this regard.

It is disappointing the Bill does not allow the inspector of prisons to publish his or her reports independently. In the recent past the Tánaiste has delayed the publication of the reports of the inspector for months if not years. He seems to have a penchant for publishing the reports on the day or the day after the Dáil goes into long periods of recess, which is unacceptable. The information in these reports is of great importance and should be made available to the general public without delays. It should not be at the discretion of the Minister to publish these reports. The Tánaiste has a terrible tendency to concentrate power on his desk and have the last say. If he does not like the contents of a report he simply suppresses or delays its publication. This is not good and we need to address the matter.

It is disappointing that the scope of this part of the Bill falls short of international norms. In most developed nations prison inspection takes a two-pronged approach. Firstly an inspector of prisons is responsible for the inspection of the prison system and the condition within individual prisons and places of detention. Secondly, an ombudsman for prisons is responsible for dealing with individual complaints from prisoners, which is crucial. We get a drip feed of the Inspector of Prisons' report. It is heartbreaking to read in the annual report by the inspector and in the individual prison reports the anecdotes of individual prisoners and how they were treated. It is through a Victorian type reporting that we get to ascertain what is going on in our prisons.

The legislation makes no provision for an ombudsman for prisons and the Inspector of Prisons is prohibited from dealing with such cases. Prisoners should be facilitated in making complaints of ill treatment to an impartial independent body. This is how the world is going and I hope the Tánaiste will take a deep breath and follow. It is not adequate that the official dealing with complaints from prisoners is himself or herself a colleague of the person against whom the complaint is being made. It is a basic principle of human rights and one that I hope the Minister will uphold.

I wish to mention prisoner escorts. I am the first to acknowledge that substantial reforms are required within the staffing and method of operation of our prisons. In many cases the Tánaiste must face up to prison officers and get them to bring their work practices into the 21st century. There is no comparison between the costing and staffing level of the Irish Prison Service and those of the United Kingdom. This raises a large question over how prison officers go about their job. If the Minister wanted to be radical, he would deal with the demarcation within the Prison Service and its sometimes dinosaur-like work practices and reform the way prison officers do their business. Instead, he is stepping aside and talking about privatisation. That is not the right way to go.

Unions and workers have a duty to face up to reform of work practices within the prison system. If they do not, the Minister will sweep them aside and more and more of their work will be privatised. We need to send out a clear signal that reform is necessary if the State is to carry out its work. If we want to prevent the Minister pursuing his own ideology, staff must reform their work practices and work better and more efficiently.

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