Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to strengthen the Inspector of Prisons by putting the office on a statutory footing and removing restrictions on publication by the Inspector of Prisons of his or her reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11875/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Inspector of Prisons has been established on a statutory basis since 2007 by virtue of Part 5 of the Prisons Act, 2007 and is independent. I believe it is an important role ensuring an effective independent oversight of our prison system which will continue to have my full support in carrying out its remit.

As Minister, I am obliged to publish all of the Inspector's reports and it is my intention to do this with all reports presented to me. I might add that under Section 31(4) of the Act, material in the reports that is prejudicial to the security of the prison or State, contrary to the public interest, or which infringes the constitutional rights of any person may be omitted. In practice, however, no material has ever been omitted from the reports of the current Inspector. This provision was included to avoid a situation where the Minister would be obliged to publish a part of the report which both the Inspector and the Minister agree should be confidential, for example, a matter affecting security or where the Inspector wants to identify to the Minister a person who the Inspector believes committed a criminal act. It is also included to address a situation where comments made in reports might leave the Minister open to civil actions for defamation if published.

A commitment to strengthen the role of the Inspector is contained in the current programme for Government. In that regard, I am keen to build on the relationships between the various prison oversight bodies and have asked my officials to examine the possibility of strengthening the links between the office of the Inspector and Prison Visiting Committees in particular.