Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 117: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the services and resources available at St. Patrick's institution; the percentage of the population who are participating in these resources; and the average participation against percentage population annually since 2002. [9388/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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St Patrick's Institution offers a diverse range of general and specialist services provided both by the Irish Prison Service and by in-reach statutory and non-statutory services. Chief among these are healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, educational, vocational, counselling, welfare and spiritual services to meet the specific needs of prisoners. As the Deputy will appreciate these services are important in addressing offending behaviour, drug and alcohol addiction, missed educational and vocational opportunities, anger management and self-management in the interest of encouraging positive personal development in prisoners and preparing them for re-integration and resettlement on release from custody.

Given the diverse range of services, the fact that prisoners engage across a number of services and the transitional nature of the prison population, it is not possible to provide precise statistics around prisoner participation. However, I can advise the Deputy that every effort is made to encourage and get prisoners to engage with relevant services and participate in constructive activity.

I am advised by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service that almost all prisoners are involved with a number of services during their sentence and involvement with the range of facilities currently available in St. Patrick's Institution will continue to be fostered.