Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We all agree we want to see the system working and it is important that humane conditions are in place to ensure and show that the system can work and feed into that process. The Northern Ireland Minister, Mr. David Ford, does not have the final say about the prisoners in the care and supervision unit. In fact, the Secretary of State, Ms Theresa Villiers, is using a so-called threat against the lives of these prisoners as a way to keep those prisoners isolated, and in a way whereby they can be accessible to MI5 in order that it can attempt to get information from them. The other prisoners in the prison have said there is no threat against these prisoners but the Secretary of State continues to use that as a reason to keep them separated. The conditions in which they are being housed are not humane and it is not conducive to building a proper peace process. Will the Minister use his office to talk to the Secretary of State to have those conditions eased, at the very least, for those prisoners?

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