Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:

"—supports the proposals of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to replace Mountjoy Prison with a new state-of-the-art prison complex;

—supports the proposals of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to provide new modern prison facilities to replace Cork Prison and Fort Mitchel Place of Detention;

—supports the Minister's proposals in the Prisons Bill 2005 to provide a statutory basis for the escorting of prisoners to and from prisons by persons other than prison officers and for the holding of pre-trial hearings through video conferencing;

—welcomes the proposals of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to update and modernise the rules for the government of prisons and his proposal to include in those rules statutory provision for the inspector of prisons and places of detention;

—supports the proposals of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to bring about greater cost efficiency in the management and operation of the prison system;

—welcomes the Minister's decision to establish a small working group involving departmental and probation and welfare service officials to build on existing work including the expert group report and the value for money audit of the service and to identify;

—the type of service that may be required in the future;

—their relative priority;

—the resource implications and different methods of providing the services;

—the research and evaluation available or required to determine the effectiveness of options;

—welcomes the appointment of psychologists to Mountjoy Prison, Dóchas Centre and Portlaoise Prison; and

—notes that the Minister for Health and Children is due to open in the Central Mental Hospital, in the near future, a 15 bed male unit to cater for prisoners with psychiatric illnesses."