Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 235: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the weekly payments awarded to prisoners; the amount they receive; if they carry out duties to earn this payment; if they receive a Christmas bonus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17681/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service that all prisoners are statutorily entitled to a daily gratuity. The current rate of gratuity payable is €2.35 daily, which equates to a weekly total of €16.45.

In accordance with the Prison Rules, 2007, additional gratuity may be paid to prisoners engaged in authorised structured activities. This additional gratuity is typically paid in the form of vouchers which can be used to purchase goods in the prison tuck shop. The levels of additional gratuity paid in respect of different types of structured activities are set by the senior Governor in each institution.

Prisoners do not receive a Christmas bonus, but the Irish Prison Service did operate a Prisoner Hardship Fund over recent years, from which each custodial institution was allocated a specific budget in December of each year. The purpose of the Hardship Fund scheme was to provide a fund from which Governors could make modest payments to prisoners and their families in need of assistance. The award criteria to be applied and the amounts to be awarded to individual prisoners were at the discretion of the senior Governor in each institution. The practice of allocating Hardship Fund budgets to custodial institutions, each December, will be discontinued in 2010, as payments to prisoners or their families on hardship grounds, at any time of the year, are eligible for funding from a newly established Prisoner Assist Programme Fund. The purpose of the new Prisoner Assist Programme Fund is to provide a facility for Governors to identify, prioritise and fund projects for the benefit of prisoners, in a more planned and co-ordinated way.