Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Office of the Inspector of Prisons is a statutory body that is independent in how it carries out its work and was set up under the Prisons Act 2007. Its mission is to support excellence in delivery and outcomes of Ireland's prisons through an independent programme of inspections and investigations. The Office of the Inspector of Prisons rents an office in Dublin that will not facilitate the expansion of this body. It also has an office in Nenagh in my constituency that could easily be expanded and increased space found for much less cost than relocation and expansion in Dublin would cost.

The Office of the Inspector of Prisons is set to expand considerably to include all places of detention. This means that prisons, courthouses and Garda stations will fall under its remit. This will require additional staff and a large space to operate out of to offer the much-enhanced operations of this public body. With the increased remit of this office and growing staff and responsibility, the location of this office is a decision that must now be made.

Its current location in Nenagh should be retained and expanded. I believe it would be an aggressive move to centralise its office back in Dublin. It would be costly for the Exchequer and would result in further centralisation of one of the bodies of the State in the capital. Government policy is decentralisation and this is one that can easily be done.

Nenagh is centrally located and easily accessible. It is on the motorway and has an array of services. This will be vital to the future efficient and effective management of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons when it undertakes its new functions to oversee all places of detention in the country.

As such, I am calling on the Minister to ensure that the Office of the Inspector of Prisons is retained in Nenagh with an increased workforce and capacity. Nenagh is an ideal location for the office. It will be able to service the length and breadth of this country and will ensure that a cost-effective solution can be found in the physical expansion of the office. Like the previous speaker, we have lost our chief superintendent. A county the size of Tipperary now has no chief superintendent based in it and our chief superintendent is operating out of Ennis. We can see already that we are suffering in terms of resources because of that. I strongly appeal to the Minister to retain these resources in Tipperary. He should retain the Office of the Inspector of Prisons in Nenagh and invest in and expand this office as part of the growing functions of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons.

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