Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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92. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when the training workshop in the newly built Cork prison will have its full complement of work training officers employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10667/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that the current staffing requirement of the work training area of Cork prison is 31, with 26 posts currently filled, giving rise to a staff shortfall of 5 in this area.

The opening of the new prison in Cork resulted in a significant change in the profile of staffing grades required to operate the new prison, with a focus on the provision of Work and training to prisoners which requires a greater number of Work Training Officers. However, the prison service operates a placement policy which provides for staff in other disciplines to fill vacancies in the work and training area to ensure services are maintained and workshops remain open, to the greatest extent possible, having regard to unpredictable demands which can arise on any given day.

While the Irish Prison Service is committed to the delivery of such structured activity to prisoners, and the utilisation of training workshops in both Cork and all prisons in the estate, the fact remains that there is a significant staffing shortfall across the prison estate, including at the grade of Work Training Officers. Accordingly, it is necessary to ensure that the current grades of Work Training Officers at all locations are maintained to ensure that the delivery of structured activity to prisoners is maintained at all locations.

Finally, in 2016, the Public Appointments Service launched a recruitment campaign on behalf of the Irish Prison Service for Recruit Prison Officers, the first since 2008. It is intended to recruit approximately 80 new Recruit Prison Officers in 2017, which will increase to at least 180 in 2018. This recruitment of Recruit Prison Officers will allow scope for the IPS to commence promotional competitions for the grade of Work Training Officers in 2017 on a staged basis.