Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 369: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the membership of the various prison visiting committees here including the date of the appointment of each member and the amount paid to each member by way of travel and subsistence each year for the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39722/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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A Visiting Committee is appointed to each prison under the Prisons (Visiting Committees) Act, 1925 and Prisons (Visiting Committees) Order, 1925. The function of Visiting Committees is to visit at frequent intervals the prison to which they are appointed and hear any complaints which may be made to them by any prisoner. They report to me any abuses observed or found by them in the prison and any repairs which they think may be urgently needed. The Visiting Committee has free access either collectively or individually to every part of their prison. Members of Committees are appointed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for a term not exceeding three years.

The following table sets out details of the individuals who are currently serving on the various Prison Visiting Committees, and the date of appointment of each member:

A number of memberships have recently expired, and new appointments are under consideration and expected shortly.

A new expenses regime was brought into effect on 1 January 2006. This new system replaced the then existing travel and subsistence expense system with the following: (i) A per diem payment of €150 per visit / meeting which will be fully subject to tax; and (ii) Vouched travel expenses of up to €40 per visit / meeting.

The compilation of statistics relating to amounts paid to individual visiting committee members by way of travel and subsistence for each of the past four years would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort to prepare and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.

However, the following table sets out the total expenditure paid out to the Visiting Committees over each of the past four years.