Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1176: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of savings in spending on prison officers' overtime which has been directly reinvested in rehabilitation measures since the resolution of the dispute. [1836/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The proposal for organisational change in the Prison Service which is currently being implemented across the prison system allows for delivery of a full range of services to prisoners and for the ongoing development of services for prisoners. The staffing and attendance arrangements will enable the introduction of a coherent training and development policy for all grades of staff in the Prison Service to ensure the availability of multi-skilled staff who can participate effectively in rehabilitative programmes. Furthermore, the industrial programme in the Prison Service, which provides structured vocational training to offenders enabling them to acquire certified skills and equipping them for gainful employment after their release, will be expanded and developed under the agreement.

The Deputy will appreciate that the level of change comprehended by the proposal for organisational change in the Prison Service cannot be implemented overnight and that the timeframes agreed for implementing the various elements of the proposal must be respected. The new additional hours system, which is based on the concept of annualised hours, has been rolled out in ten institutions to date and will be rolled out in the remaining institutions on 12 February 2006, bringing about the total elimination of overtime working in prisons across the service.

It is not yet possible to indicate the amount, to be saved in overtime payments, which will be directly allocated to rehabilitation measures. When the new working arrangements have been rolled out fully and the savings envisaged have been realised, the question of further enhancing prisoner regimes will be considered in consultation with the Department of Finance. Any additional resources coming available may also be used to continue modernisation of prison facilities which would improve prisoner conditions.