Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

We are dealing comprehensively with Part 2, which deals with the prisoner escort services, and, in particular the Minister's original threat to privatise such services as a way of leveraging an agreement with prison officers to operate in a way that satisfied him. He gave a guarantee to the House on both Second and Committee Stages that he would not activate these provisions and I would rather that they were not being pursued, since he has a satisfactory arrangement. If staff were totally obdurate or there was great difficulty operating a working agreement with staff, alternatives could be examined but, in the absence of that, it is provocative to include this Part, when it is patently, in the Minister's words, "not required". For that reason, I agree with the general analysis of Deputy O'Snodaigh. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe made a good argument regarding the reporting mechanism, as he did on Committee Stage.

My amendment No. 3 deals with the functions of a prisoner custody officer. Many of these officers could potentially be civilians and the Minister is giving them powers to search prisoners in transit in circumstances where it might be believed something untoward was concealed on their person. While I fail to disagree with the power of search because that might be necessary not only to protect the escort officer but also the public, I disagree with the notion that such officers should have the power to conduct an intimate search of a prisoner. The Minister instanced a prisoner carrying a concealed weapon but the custody officer has the power to require a prisoner to remove clothing, including outer garments, under the section. The power to conduct an intimate search should not be available except in restricted conditions. The power is available to prison officers in the confines of a prison and to members of the Garda. If such a search were necessary, the prisoner should be brought to a Garda station or a secure room in a court building and searched by a garda. We should not provide that a civilian could conduct an intimate search.

I understood from the Minister's response on Committee Stage to this amendment that he was reasonably amenable to it. Many of the issues I raised on Committee Stage have been taken on board in amendments tabled by the Minister on this Stage, for which I thank him, but this issue has not been addressed, which I regret. That is the only other point I wish to make in regard to this group of amendments.

See this speech in context