Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise reports in the media yesterday in relation to some prisoners in Coverhill Prison who are mentally unwell. In its latest report on Ireland, the Council of Europe's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment revealed some shocking conditions relating to some male prisoners in Cloverhill Prison, one of whom was left in an observation cell for two weeks, naked and in his own faeces. The prisoner had not received so much as a shower, and the only time the door was opened was when his food was being put into his cell. This is happening in Ireland's prison system. I cannot even say that we can blame the prison system. Clearly, people who are mentally unwell are being sentenced to prison and are being sent into a prison system that is not fit for purpose for someone who is so unwell and who should definitely not be in the prison system at all.

Will the Leader ask the Minister for Justice to come to the House in the near future for a debate on prison reform and prison conditions? I remember reading a quote in some research I did with Fiona O'Reilly, CEO of Safetynet services, when she said that the streets became our asylums. When we moved from mental health facilities and putting people into institutions, we did not necessarily get it right when we said that we would reintegrate people and that we would treat them within the community. In fact, those very people who would have been in institutions have ended up in our prison system and on our streets. We really need to address this issue and do so quickly. When a person who is so unwell is sentenced there needs to be some level of understanding and awareness within the Judiciary of the resources and supports the prison system has in being able to deal with that person, including security staff within the prison itself. They are not mental health nurses, and I am sure they are at a loss in what they can do. We need to be able to fix this.

On Senator Mullen's contribution, we need to be very careful when we say "late-term abortions".It is not a late-term abortion, it is actually for fatal foetal abnormality. We need to be very careful of what language we use. There is no late-term abortion in Ireland unless it is for fatal foetal abnormality. If one looks for the report, the only place one can find it on Google is in the likes of gript.ie. I could not find the original report. I would like to be able to access the original report-----