Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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169. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons currently on remand in prison; the length of time they are on remand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47525/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that according to the most recent snapshot of the prisoner population taken on Thursday 31 October, 2013 there were 591 prisoners held on remand throughout the prison system. On the same date in 2012 there were 637 prisoners held on remand. The 2013 figure has a decrease of 46 or 7% on the 2012 figure. A detailed breakdown of the location of all remand prisoners is set out in the table. The majority of prisoners held on remand in Dublin are held in Cloverhill Prison which is the remand prison for those committed to prison on remand in the Dublin courts.

It is not possible to provide the length of time a prisoner spends on remand, as this would necessitate a manual search of each record to determine when the period of remand commenced as they may not actually be their committal date. This would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified where there are other significant demands on resources.