Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

When the Minister says reports of what is happening in the high security wing in Portlaoise Prison are an exaggeration, will he enlighten himself and intervene in this most unsatisfactory situation that is lowering the already low morale of those working in the prison? Where is the exaggeration in a senior republican having four cells to himself? Where is the exaggeration in republican prisoners enjoying what the Minister himself admitted was "a most relaxed prison regime"? There are military style parades on a regular basis and there are murals on the walls that have not been removed by the prison authorities.

Could the Minister confirm that flaps have been placed on closed circuit television cameras to ensure a regime that cannot be observed through the cameras? Will he confirm that visitors to the republican prisoners and convicted drug dealers in the high security wing do not have to undergo the same stringent search regime as those visiting ordinary prisoners using sniffer dogs?

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