Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I cannot let the Minister away with an assertion that this blocking technology can be successful on a pilot basis in the Midlands Prison and not in Portlaoise because of the hospital. The Midlands Prison in which the pilot project is working is actually in closer proximity to the hospital than is Portlaoise Prison where the gangsters are. Any evidence of operating criminal activities from within prison comes from Portlaoise Prison. That is where the gang lords are; that is where Deputy O'Donnell's and Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's former constituents are and that is where the problem is. Portlaoise Prison is actually further away from a hospital than is the Midlands Prison and therefore that argument does not hold water. There is not the will, between the Minister and the Irish Prison Service, to deal with this issue of mobile phones in prisons.

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