Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 581: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of sick leave prison officers and other staff in each of the prisons took in each year since 1997 to date in 2007. [30589/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I have set out hereunder the amount of sick leave taken by all prison staff for the years 1997 to 2006 inclusive. Due to the manner in which they were then collated, figures broken down by each prison are not readily available prior to 2000 — global figures for the years 1997 to 1999 are shown in the table below. Figures for the years 2000 to 2006 are shown by each prison.

The most recent figures available for 2007 to the end of September show that 50262 days were availed of for sick leave. The number of staff at that date was 3111. This is a reduction of 18.5% per capita for the same period in 2006 and the first major reversal of the trend since 2000. I have provided the figures by prison for the years 2000 to 2006.