Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 359: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will define the criteria upon which he will decide that the publication of part or parts of future reports of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention are against the public interest and subsequently censored — as outlined in section 127(8) of the new Prison Rules 2005, and the process that will be made available to the Prison inspector to appeal such a decision. [23241/05]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the way in which section 127(8) of the new Prison Rules, 2005 (details supplied) is compatible with his public statements of 22 June 2005 that the new Prison Rules will allow the Prison inspector to be independent in the exercise of his or her functions. [23242/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 359 and 360 together.

The Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention was appointed to inspect prisons and to report to the Minister of the day. It has been the practice since the appointment of the current inspector to lay his reports before the Houses of the Oireachtas and publish them on the Department's website. On one occasion, in the case of his second annual report, certain parts were not published on the basis of independent legal advice.

Rule 127 of the draft prison rules, published recently, confirms the existing practice giving it the force of a statutory instrument. The reports of the inspector shall continue to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and be published in full on the Department's website unless the rights of an individual would be adversely affected or it would be against the public interest. In such exceptional cases, the report will be published but with the relevant parts deleted. If there is any such deletions rule 127(9) requires a statement to be attached to the report stating that such deletions have been made so it will be a matter of public knowledge. Rule 127(2) of the draft prison rules provides specifically that the inspector shall be independent in the exercise of his or her functions.