Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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25. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State about the prison conditions of segregated prisoners in a prison (details supplied) in County Antrim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48383/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the Deputy’s ongoing concerns about conditions in Maghaberry Prison.

The management of the prison is a matter for the Northern Ireland Prison Service, an agency of the Department of Justice at Stormont. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s day to day role is limited to adjudicating on prisoners' access to the separated regime which separates paramilitary prisoners from the rest of the prison population and loyalist prisoners from republican prisoners.

As the Deputy will recall, a Stocktake of the 2010 agreement between the NI Prison Service and the prisoners in the separated regime at Maghaberry was published in November 2014. It made a number of recommendations to be implemented within a period of six months. At the time, the Government’s strong view was that the full implementation of the Stocktake report offered an opportunity to create a conflict-free environment in the prison. This view was conveyed to the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms. Theresa Villiers MP, and to the then Minister of Justice in the Northern Executive, Mr. David Ford MLA, and to their officials.

My officials at the Belfast Secretariat continue to engage on an ongoing basis with a range of interlocutors including the Northern Ireland Office, the Northern Ireland Prison Service, the members of the Stocktake group, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), and others to discuss, explore and encourage progress. They are also in regular touch with the Criminal Justice Inspectorate for Northern Ireland whose most recent report on conditions in the prison, issued in August 2017, noted that health and educational provision is improving and that levels of disorder and violence were generally low. The report found that there were still significant challenges around the separated regime.

In seeking satisfactory outcomes in Maghaberry, the cooperation of both the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the prisoners themselves is required. I would encourage all with influence to move forward in the right spirit. The restoration of the Executive at Stormont and the appointment of a new Northern Ireland Minister for Justice would also be of great assistance in addressing prison issues in the round.