Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The pace of reform has slowed since the former Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, exited the brief. We need to look at this area very seriously. People in prison are citizens. In many ways, they are forgotten citizens, but we need to separate their behaviour from the human being and deal with that issue appropriately. A report published in June indicated that one in ten of the youngest inmates was on a restricted regime and locked up for up to 23 hours a day, which is not human rights compliant. That hundreds of prisoners have requested to be in isolation indicates inappropriate governance in the Irish Prison Service. We need to step back and look at this. For example, when citizens end up in prison, we should take the opportunity to deal with their behaviour and rehabilitate them to enable them to go back into society. A way of doing this is to treat them humanely by addressing their living conditions, as prison, in one sense, is their home. The Minister of State has said slopping out has been reduced, which is true, but the reality is that it still happens in E wing of Portlaoise Prison, for example. Conditions in that prison are horrendous, with slabs of concrete falling off walls in the showers hitting prisoners, electrical wires exposed in the shower area, giving rise to the danger of electrocution, and doctors pointing to the possibility of legionnaires' disease being contracted because of the Victorian conditions in the prison. This issue needs to be addressed. I ask the Minister to intervene with the Irish Prison Service on behalf of the cross-party delegation of Deputies who want to visit the prison.

How we treat prisoners is important. For example, I have been dealing with the case of a Donegal man, Gerard McManus, since 2013. He has requested a transfer from Maghaberry Prison to Portlaoise Prison for family reasons. More than a year ago the Irish Prison Service informed me that it was dealing with his request for a transfer, yet it has still not dealt with it. This causes stress and isolation, as well as pressure on prisoners and it is not human rights-compliant. We could do better. I agree with the Minister of State that the Inspector of Prisons has done a great job in his reports. However, what he is suggesting is that we need to do considerably more, but I do not see enough evidence of this under the Minister.

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