Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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104. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 289 of 18 September 2018, if he will respond to the question regarding the statistics for prisoners on protection in Irish prisons as opposed to those on restricted regimes; and the figures for the daily average of prisoners on protection in 2017. [39251/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that as per my reply to Parliamentary Question 442 for written answer on 7 September 2018, there are no prisoners on protection who are not on a form of restricted regime with the exception of one prisoner on Portlaoise Campus.

A prisoner may, either at his/her own request or when the Governor considers it necessary, in so far as is practicable and subject to the maintenance and good order and safe and secure custody, be kept separate from other prisoners who are reasonably likely to cause significant harm to him/her.  This is provided for under Rule 63 of the Prison Rules 2007. 

In addition, the Governor may decide, for the maintenance of good order in the prison, to remove a prisoner from general association or structured activity to reduce the negative effect that a prisoner or prisoners may have on the general population. This is provided for under Rule 62 of the Prison Rules 2007. There may also be a smaller number of prisoners who would be restricted for medical (Rule 64) or discipline reasons (Rule 67).

The Census undertaken by the Irish Prison Service on a quarterly basis provides figures in respect of all of these categories of restricted regime prisoners.

As the information is compiled on a quarterly basis, data in relation to daily averages is not available.