Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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579. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to set down the number of days in the past academic year since September 2017 on which education and training workshops in the Irish Prison Service were closed due to the unavailability of prison service staff other than teaching staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16516/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service provides a wide range of rehabilitative programmes to those in custody that include education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, counselling, welfare and spiritual services. These programmes can offer purposeful activity to those in custody while serving their sentences and encouraging them to lead law abiding lives on release. These programmes are available in all prisons and all prisoners are eligible to use the services.

The Department of Education and Skills provides an allocation of 220 whole-time teacher equivalents to the Prison Service through the Education and Training Boards. Education in prisons is delivered in partnership between the Education and Training Boards and the Irish Prison Service with a focus on providing education which is quality assured, student centred and which facilitates lifelong learning. The partnership endeavours to meet the needs of prisoners through helping them cope with their sentence, achieve personal development and prepare for life after release.

The guiding principles which underpin the prisons' work and training service are to make available, work, work-training and other purposeful activities to all those in custody. Training activities are chosen to give as much variety as possible and also to give opportunities for those in prison to acquire practical skills which will help them secure employment on release.

332 Work Training Officers have been appointed and assigned to areas such as catering, laundry, industrial cleaning, industrial skills and gym.

The manner in which records are collated does not allow us to provide statistics on the number of days the workshops were closed and the reasons for such closures. However, the following table provides the hours workshops were closed as a percentage of potential open hours.

The following table provides the days Education Centres were closed:

Six of the 13 Education Centres in Irish Prison Service (Arbour Hill, Castlerea, Portlaoise, Midlands, Shelton Abbey, Loughan) did not have school closure for any day since September 2017.