Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 356: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the recent report on the succession of serious failures of the privatised prison escort service in Scotland and if he will make a commitment that unrestricted access by the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention to monitor prison escorts will be made a condition of the contract with any privatised prisoner escort service in this State. [23238/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is not my intention to comment on operational matters pertaining to another jurisdiction. The monitoring of any proposed contracted out prisoner escort service will be comprehensively detailed in the tender documents currently under preparation by my officials. The brief of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention in carrying out an inspection of any prison or place of detention will still have regard to such matters as the attitude of staff and inmates and the health, safety and well-being of prisoners irrespective of whether prisoner escorts are contracted out.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on recent report that the cost of the privatised prison escort service in Scotland is greater than the cost of the previous public escort service; and if he will provide an assurance that his proposed privatised escort scheme in this State will indeed be less expensive than the current publicly run service. [23239/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Likely costs of a contracted out service are dependent on the outcome of the competitive tendering process involved and the Deputy will appreciate that the publication of estimated costs and savings by me would compromise this process. However, studies carried out on prisoner escorts in this jurisdiction are unanimous in identifying the potential for significant improvements in economy and effectiveness.

The Deputy will appreciate that the rationale for the introduction of contracted out prisoner escort services may differ between jurisdictions. However, the extremely high cost of prisoner escorts in Ireland is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that the majority of prisoner escorts are done on an overtime basis.