John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the cost of transferring prisoners from jail to attend court hearings in 2007 and 2008 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25285/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed that precise details of the cost of escorts arranged to transfer prisoners specifically for the purposes of court appearances are not readily available within the Irish Prison Service. Due to the volume of court escorts which took place over the periods in question, it would not be possible to calculate the costs requested without an inordinate amount of manual checking of records by the Irish Prison Service. The costs attributed to all escorts undertaken by the Prison Service Escort Corps for 2007 and 2008 are €14.6 million and €14.4 million, respectively. These costs include the costs associated with the transfer of prisoners specifically for the purposes of court appearances. Certain other non-pay escort-related costs are charged to individual prisons and these costs are not included in the above.