Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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269. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 305 of 23 September 2014, the reason she cannot provide the number of convictions each prisoner currently detained in the Irish prison system has; if these statistics are available to the Irish Prison Service; if she will provide the statistics requested in Parliamentary Question No. 305 of 23 September 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37766/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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On the 23 September there were 3,806 persons in custody. In order to obtain the information requested the Irish Prison Service would have to trawl these 3,806 files for any previous convictions which resulted in a custodial sentence. In addition the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána records would then need to be checked for all 3,806 persons to establish if any of them had previous convictions, but where said convictions did not result in a custodial sentence.

As I advised the Deputy in my reply to question no. 305 of 23 September 2014, the compilation of these statistics would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort to prepare and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.