Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of drugs seized at each prison here for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3203/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The figures requested by the Deputy are set out in the table.

One of the continuing major challenges in prisons today lies in preventing access to contraband items, primarily mobile phones and drugs, which for obvious reasons, are viewed as highly valuable commodities among elements of the prison population. Efforts are made on a continuous basis to prevent the flow of contraband into our prisons, by for example, the installation of nets over exercise yards, vigilant observation of prisoners by staff, enhanced CCTV monitoring, the stricter control of visits and the use of prisoner and random cell searches on a daily basis.

Random searches of cells and their occupants have uncovered significant quantities of contraband in recent years. Nevertheless, the Irish Prison Service recognises that constant improvements are required in this area.

The table illustrates the total number of drugs seized in each prison over the years mentioned by the Deputy. Provisional figures for 2012 show that there were 1,256 seizures of drugs across the institutions. This represents a decrease of almost 11% on 2011 and or a 28% decrease compared with the 2010 figures.