Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of seizures of illegal drugs in prisons; the value of such seizures in 2007 and in each of the preceding five years; and if he will provide a breakdown of the seizures in each prison. [4465/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The confiscation of drugs (or suspected drugs) is recorded by our prisons under the generic description of "prohibited articles/substances". An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period.

Such an examination would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.