Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 242: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the assistance given to prisoners who have suffered sexual abuse as young children; and if he will make this a priority issue. [28354/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Both the Prison Psychology Service and the Probation Service provide and facilitate a range of services to prisoners who have been victims of sexual abuse in childhood. The precise nature of the service will vary depending on the needs of the individual and as appropriate to circumstances. The support available includes referral to the National Counselling Service for victims of abuse which will generally establish an engagement with the person concerned and offer counselling on return to the community. The Prison Psychology Service also provides more in-depth therapeutic interventions for those who are assessed as having sufficient time left to serve and the necessary personal stability to undergo such difficult and intensive counselling whilst in custody.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 243: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners with psychiatric problems and intellectual disabilities in prison. [28355/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In 2003 a team from the Central Mental Hospital, with the cooperation and support of the Irish Prison Service, undertook the first systematic survey of mental illness in the Irish prison population. The findings of this study confirm that the rates of diagnosed mental illness among prisoners are significantly higher than in comparable community populations. This finding is common to prison populations in many jurisdictions.

The study found that drug and alcohol dependence and harmful use were by far the most common problems, present in between 61% and 79% of prisoners. The rate for all mental illnesses ranged from 16% in male committals to 27% in sentenced men, while the comparable figures for females were 41% and 60% respectively.

My Department has previously published the findings of a study entitled 'A Survey of the Level of Learning Disability among the Prison Population in Ireland'. As I have previously stated (as indicated in my reply to Deputy Neville's question of 25 February 2003), there are strong reservations about interpreting the main finding of the study as suggesting that over 28% of the prisoner population in the country have a mental handicap. Any such suggestion is strongly disputed by people who work with prisoners in a professional capacity on a daily basis and there is a reasonable basis for argument that this unexpectedly high figure could be accounted for by measurement of factors attributable to educational deficit and social disadvantage, rather than learning disability per se.