Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 598: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide this Deputy with figures for the number of Irish born prisoners in prisons in the UK and the US; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24551/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, it is the right of every Irish citizen who is arrested or imprisoned abroad to seek consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, not all Irish citizens who are arrested or imprisoned avail of this right. The number of Irish prisoners abroad is moreover constantly changing, as some are released and others newly detained.

For these reasons, it is not possible to give precise figures on how many Irish citizens are imprisoned abroad at any one time. However, it is my Department's understanding that there are probably over 1,000 such prisoners, and that nearly 700 of these are in prison in Britain, with some 30 in the United States.

The Government is committed to carrying out a research project to identify the number of Irish prisoners abroad and their needs for services. The focus of the study will, understandably given the numbers involved, be on Irish prisoners in Britain. Draft terms of reference for this study have now been drawn up, and the study will be initiated in the near future.