Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the recent statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture that the absence of needle exchange from places of detention amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment; and if he has raised this issue with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. [8836/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The statement referred to by the Deputy has recently been made available by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Amongst various matters raised in the statement there is comment expressing reservation that needle and syringe exchange programmes are available to prisoners in only eight countries throughout the world and opiate substitution therapy in only thirty three States, often restricted to those who already have begun to receive treatment prior to incarceration.

There is concern expressed by the Special Rapporteur that, notwithstanding recommendations and decisions of various international Human Rights bodies, failure to provide adequate health services to detainees may contribute to conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. He goes on to raise concern that failure to ensure access to harm reduction measures - both inside and outside prisons - puts injecting drug users at unnecessary and avoidable risk of blood borne infection.

In the Irish context, I would remind the Deputy that all prisoners have access to health services on an equivalent basis to citizens in the general community covered by the General Medical Services scheme. The Irish Prison Service has, in the context of drug treatment services, been engaged in collaborative efforts involving community health and drug treatment resources aimed at ensuring that the range of services available to prisoners is consistent with good practice in the general community. Notwithstanding present resource difficulties, it remains a priority of my Department and the Irish Prison Service that such services will continue to be available.

Turning to the question of needle exchange in prisons. My position on this matter is clear - I do not support such a move. Any person seeking syringes, needles and fluids under such a scheme would essentially be indicating to the prison authorities that he or she is in possession of, or shortly will be in illegal possession of, controlled drugs and proposes consuming them. To supply a prisoner with the requested items in these circumstances would, in effect, be to tell him or her that prison management will facilitate the commission of serious criminal offences in the prison.

Needle Exchange Schemes would subvert, and run contrary to increasing staff vigilance in searching for drugs and preventing them being smuggled into prisons. As far as my Department is concerned, drug control in prisons would be reduced to a game in which a blind eye approach to successful breaches of the controls would, in time, become the order of the day. The Irish Prison Service is committed to the twin strategies of Supply and Demand Reduction to deal with the issues of drugs in prison - closing off routes of supply and providing appropriate support to prisoners to tackle their addictions. The introduction of needle exchange would run contrary to these approaches.

As previously stated, my priority and that of the Irish Prison Service is to ensure that an appropriate range of treatment services is available to all prisoners requiring these.