Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and wish him well with the Bill. Like Senator Cummins, I will raise several issues which I hope the Minister will clarify.

Why does the Minister not envisage court services being provided at the proposed site at Thornton Hall? It is a large, 150 acre site with much room for expansion. I would have thought court services would be provided to alleviate some of the issues with regard to the escort of prisoners to and from courthouses that will no doubt arise when the Bill is enacted.

Will the Minister expand on the contracting out of prisoner escort services? He stated:

The proposal for organisational change has been accepted and it incorporates a co-ordinated prisoner escort service operated from within the Prison Service. As this is my preferred approach, I have no plans to contract out the service for the foreseeable future.

However, the Minister proposes to retain sections 2 to 7 of the Bill in case there is a problem. I presume this is in case the Prison Service falls down in its duty and is unable to undertake the service, in which case it would be contracted out. What would happen in the meantime given that prisoners would still have to be taken to court? Would the Garda Síochána have to take over the service? From my reading of the Bill, I thought contracts would be awarded and that we would have competition for this service. It is clear there will be no competition and that the service will be carried out within the Prison Service. Many prison officers who do not wish to work overtime must do so at present. This will be another function for the Prison Service and additional prison officers will have to be employed to carry it out.

I agree with the Minister that there is no place for drugs in prisons. Some years ago, the Minister attacked a former Minister for Justice, Mrs. Nora Owen, when he stated she should be able to rid prisons of drugs within six weeks and that if he took over as Minister, he would achieve this within six weeks.