John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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323. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the expenditure and allocations attributable to the drugs programme that were made by the Irish Prison Service in each of the past five years; the projects and programmes supported by the funding in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7118/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I have been advised by the Irish Prison Service that figures for 2018 expenditure on drug treatment programmes are not yet available. The aggregate spend in the previous five year period is set out in the table below:

The table does not include the substantial staffing costs for other healthcare staff, and for prison officers on treatment related duties. This work forms part of the overall duties that they perform, and it is not possible to apportion separately.

The Irish Prison Service continues to seek to construct a range of programmes, support services and through-care options for prisoners demonstrating a commitment to addressing their substance misuse. The IPS engages Merchants Quay Ireland to provide a prison based addiction counselling service, with structured assessments and evidence-based counselling interventions with clearly-defined treatment plans and goals. The counselling service provides a range of generic counselling and intervention skills related to substance misuse and dependency. These skills include, motivational interviewing, motivational enhancement therapy, twelve step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy and harm reduction approaches. There are currently 19.8 whole time equivalent addiction counsellors employed across the prison estate.

The IPS has an agreed protocol with the Health Service Executive for the seamless transition of prisoners established on drug treatment into community drug treatment settings.

The number of prisoners who received drug treatment (methadone) for the years in question are as follows:

As of December 2017, some 530 prisoners were in receipt of methadone on a daily basis. In addition, the number of addiction counselling sessions provided in 2017 was 10,252

The Irish Prison Service has a number of drug treatment programmes in operation. This includes a nine week programme in Mountjoy Prison which accommodates 9 prisoners, with up to 6 programmes being facilitated annually.

In addition, the Medical Unit at Mountjoy Prison has 9 beds available to be utilised exclusively for the Drug Treatment Programme at any one time. Some of the other services which are available include Slow Detoxification, and Stabilisation and Relapse Programmes in all prisons.