Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

There is a growing state of chaos and crisis in the Prison Service regarding access for prisoners to the medical officer. There were reports yesterday about Castlerea Prison, County Roscommon, where a prisoner was held, stripped to his underclothes, in a padded cell. This is 2004 and if such treatment is continuing in our prisons, there is an urgent need for the Minister to come before the House to explain why psychiatric facilities are not available for this prisoner at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum. It is of the utmost importance that this matter should be dealt with. The importance of medical care in prisons is as essential as it is in society in general.