Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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60. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress being made to allow the Office of the Ombudsman to be given jurisdiction to deal with complaints relating to the prison service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29844/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The report of the Inspector of Prisons on the prisoner complaints system “Review, Evaluation and Analysis of the Operation of the present Irish Prison Service Complaints Procedure” was published on 8 June, 2016 and is available on my Department's website - www.justice.ie.This identified a number of concerns in the implementation of the current complaints procedure. Arising from this I met with the Inspector of Prisons to discuss his findings. The Inspector made it clear to me that he considered the Irish Prison Service has to retain a central role in the complaints process but with independent oversight and that he was satisfied that a fair and effective complaints procedure could be achieved with the implementation of his recommendations. I also had a separate meeting with the Director General of the Irish Prison Service to see what action needed to be taken following on from the report.

In the light of this report, it is clear that more needs to be done before we have a system that will gain the full confidence of staff, prisoners and the general public. One of the key recommendations in the Inspector's report is that prisoners’ complaints would be subject to review by the Ombudsman, who would also be able to deal with complaints directly in the case of undue delay. I accept this recommendation and my officials have already had a number of meetings with the Ombudsman's office and will be engaging with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the matter.

In my meeting with the Inspector about his report, I specifically asked him to keep the complaints procedure under review and to give me regular reports. I emphasised that the rights of all prisoners, including vulnerable prisoners, have to be promoted and an effective complaints system is just one aspect of achieving this goal.