Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners still slopping out. [9916/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that with the construction of a new prison in Cork, which opened on 12 February 2016, and the refurbishment of Mountjoy prison, 98.7% of prisoners now have access to in-cell sanitation. On 27 June 2016, I launched the Irish Prison Service’s Capital Strategy 2016-2021. This ambitious programme will see the complete replacement of the outdated accommodation in Limerick and Portlaoise prisons as well as improvements across a number of other prisons. On completion of the Limerick and Portlaoise projects, “slopping out” will be completely eliminated across the prisons estate.

I am advised by the Irish Prison Service, that the number of prisoners without access to in-cell sanitation has decreased from 1,003 at the end of 2010 to just 49 on 18 January 2017 (Portlaoise 28 and Limerick 21).