Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he plans a review of training for prison officers employed in St. Patrick's Institution, Dublin; if disciplinary action has been initiated against any member of staff following publication of a report by the Ombudsman for Children on children in St. Patrick's Institution. [50450/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I have been assured by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service that the training needs of prison staff are constantly subject to review by the dedicated team attached to the Irish Prison Service Training and Development Centre.

All Recruit Prison Officers complete an awareness programme on "Young People in Prison" as part of their initial training in the Irish Prison Service Training and Development Centre. The Prison Service Training and Development Centre has also developed a "Staff Working with Young People Awareness Programme" which has recently been delivered to the prison officers working with children in St. Patrick's Institution. Following this initial awareness programme further training has been identified and a comprehensive "Staff Working with Young People Awareness Programme" is currently being developed by the Prison Service Training and Development Centre which will be delivered to all staff working in St. Patrick's Institution before the end of this year.

The Management Team in St Patrick's completed an ILM Level 5 (FETAC Level 6) Leadership Award in September this year and between October and December 2012, all St Patrick's Management staff (Governors and Chief Officers) will have completed the "Leading Together" IMI Situational Leadership Programme. This is a senior executive programme developed as a means of learning new, and improving existing skills in - leadership; motivation; skills for leading teams and groups; and leadership skills for major organisational change.

In addition, a specific "Children First" training programme has also been designed, in conjunction with the Health Services Executive which is intended for delivery to staff attached to St Patrick's during the coming months.

The appointment of two training Liaison Officers to the Mountjoy Campus under the management of the Training and Development Centre will be completed shortly and will assist in the delivering and managing localised training for staff in St. Patrick's Institution. In addition, a number of staff in St. Patrick's Institution have been developed as Training Support Instructors and they will assist in the delivery of identified localised training.

The Irish Prison Service in consultation with the Irish Human Rights Commission has also developed a Human Rights in Prison Course and the first of these joint courses will be delivered to Training Staff in January 2013 and will then be rolled out to all prison staff.

As the Deputy may be aware a new complaints procedure was introduced on 1 November 2012 in all prisons which involved the establishment of a panel of 22 external Investigators. I have instructed the Director General of the Irish Prison Service to direct the new Investigators to commence an examination of previous complaints in St Patrick's Institution. I can assure the Deputy that should breaches of discipline be found to have occurred, the officers responsible will be subject to the disciplinary process in accordance with the Prison (Disciplinary Code for Officers) Rules.