Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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83. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the payment of allowances to prisoners who are not in prison but are still in custody, for example, in long-term hospital care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5295/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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For the purposes of this reply it is understood that by 'allowances' the Deputy is referring to the prison daily gratuity. I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that the Prison Rules, 2007, section 29, provides that each prisoner shall be eligible for a gratuity, and that different levels of gratuity may be fixed for different prisons, different classes of prisoners and different levels of engagement in authorised structured activities. I am advised that all amounts due to a prisoner under this rule shall be held in an account for the prisoner, and any amount not given to the prisoner while he or she is in prison shall be given to him or her upon his or her final release from prison.

The Irish Prison Service has advised that all prisoners in the custody of the Irish Prison Service are eligible to receive a daily gratuity under this rule regardless of sentence or remand status. Prisoners who are taken to hospital for in-patient treatment continue to be eligible as they have not been released from custody. Prisoners on approved temporary release programmes are not entitled to payment of the daily gratuity as they are not required to return overnight to the prison.

The daily gratuity allows prisoners to purchase items from the prison tuck shop during their sentence and/or to save money which may be transferred to family members during sentence, or be used to assist their reintegration on release.