Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

No matter how one interprets the Taoiseach's answer, we are a long way from the drug-free prisons he promised us 11 years ago, promised for a second time six years ago and then promised us again last year. It seems the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and his Department are not on top of the situation. For example, my colleague, Deputy Tuffy, asked a question of the Minister earlier this month about the quantity and value of drugs seized in prisons in the last five years. The Minister replied:

An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period.

The Minister further stated that such an examination "would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time". In other words, the Department does not know the quantity and value of drugs seized in prisons in the last five years.

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