Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister can say it is a statutory function, but he provides the resources. The resources are not adequate, inspections are not happening and that raises risks.

I asked when we would hear more about a particular report into surveillance in the Prison Service. I take this opportunity to emphasise the need for that report in the context of the broader issue of places of detention and failure to inspect them. I again express the need for the Minister to ratify the UN's Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. It was signed in 2007 and has not been ratified in an acceptable timeframe either in relation to this or in a much broader sense of places of detention.

See this speech in context