Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

The level of illiteracy in our prisons is unacceptable. If prisoners cannot read or write, what chance do they have of rehabilitation? The prison adult literacy survey recommended that we should give top priority to prisoners with the weakest literacy skills by introducing a standardised initial screening procedure for literacy as part of the assessment framework currently being developed with the National Adult Literacy Agency, alongside peer tutor training programmes and innovative information and communications technology programmes to attract those who are most disaffected. The report also recommended that the link between internal prison provision and the education services available to prisoners after release should be strengthened. Has the Minister delivered on these recommendations?

The connect programme to improve the future job prospects of prisoners in Mountjoy Prison and its training unit has suffered from a severe lack of funding and many other programmes have also been curtailed. The Inspector of Prisons has voiced grave concerns about St. Patrick's Institution, describing it as a warehouse for young people who learn the finer points of criminality, which almost certainly guarantees their progression into the university of Mountjoy.

What is the Minister doing to provide basic literacy skills and educational programmes? Last night, I noted that some of the classrooms in Castlereagh Prison were converted into accommodation for Garda programmes. I believe in reforming the Irish penal system by putting rehabilitation at its heart. What is the Minister's view?

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