Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

In view of the recent report by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is a prestigious committee of the Council of Europe, and considering that this is the third successive occasion over the last six years or so that the same committee has condemned the conditions in Irish prisons and a number of Garda stations and that three prisons — Mountjoy Prison, St. Patrick's Institution and Limerick Prison — were not fit for human accommodation, how does the Government intend to respond to these infringements in terms of human rights and rehabilitation? Does the Government intend to put the Prison Service on a statutory footing so we can have some accountability in the area?

See this speech in context