Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Prisoners are not permitted to have mobile phones in their possession either in Mountjoy Prison or in any of the other penal institutions in the State. However, one of the major difficulties in prisons today lies in preventing access to contraband items, primarily mobile phones and drugs, which for obvious reasons are viewed as highly valuable commodities among elements of the prison population.

Huge efforts are made on a continuous basis to prevent the flow of contraband into Mountjoy Prison. These measures include thorough searching of prisoners returning from court or temporary release, on suspicion, following visits or following committal. Furthermore, the installation of nets over exercise yards, vigilant observation of prisoners by staff, CCTV monitoring, random searches of cells and their occupants and searching of correspondence have all been successful in intercepting significant quantities of contraband in recent years.

Information regarding individual prisoners' temporary release is not shared with the general prison population. However, each individual prisoner will be told the outcome of their applications and have numerous opportunities to relay such information to other prisoners and also to members of the public by, for example, their permitted land line telephone calls or during a visit.

The Garda investigation into this matter is continuing and it would not therefore be appropriate for me to comment on or speculate about the factors individual to this case. I can inform the Deputy, however, that the cell occupied by the victim was searched by the Garda as part of its investigation. While there were no specific phone searches by the prison authorities as a result of this incident, daily searches take place in the prison for such contraband. Furthermore, the victim had not indicated to the prison service authorities that he considered his safety to be at risk.