Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

A person who, without the permission of the governor, possesses or uses a mobile telecommunications device, or a person who supplies such a device to a prisoner without such permission, is to be made guilty of an offence. He or she will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000, or a prison term not exceeding 12 months. He or she will be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €10,000, or a prison term not exceeding five years, or both. The provision being introduced in this way, which will prohibit the use and possession by prisoners of mobile telephones and prohibit the supply or attempted supply by persons of those telephones, is seriously needed.

Over the weekend, Senators will have read, as I did, about the seizure of a huge number of mobile telephones in a prison. I do not want to talk about the arrests which were made in that context recently. I have to be careful in what I say. It struck me that people who breach the prison rules by facilitating the unlawful transmission of messages in and out of prisons should be given serious penalties. Therefore, I introduced this amendment to ensure the possession or use by a prisoner of a mobile telephone without permission, or the supply of such a telephone, shall be an arrestable offence, and that a person found guilty of such an offence shall be punishable. It is obvious that we have to provide for certain exceptions — the governor could, in some circumstance, give permission for the use of a mobile telephone. I can envisage that it might be intelligent in a particular case for an officer to bring a mobile telephone to a prisoner in order that he or she can speak to somebody as a matter of urgency. Subject to such exceptions, it is my intention to prohibit and prevent the use of mobile telephones in prisons. The Department is working on a programme that will lead to the use of suppression devices throughout the Prisons Service. It is not simply a matter of making it a criminal offence — it is also a matter of making the use of mobile telephones within prisons impossible.