Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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118. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the daily ration allowance to feed a prisoner and the cost of feeding a prisoner per day. [24586/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that it caters daily to the nutritional needs of approximately 4000 prisoners in its custody. There is no fixed "daily ration allowance" in use in the prison system.

The Irish Prison Service Catering Service provides a nutritionally balanced, varied diet to all prisoners through the 28 day menu which also caters for vegetarian and special diets.

The menu is kept under active review and is designed to deliver 2,500 calories for men and 2000 calories for women, in line with FSAI guidelines.

I am advised that the Irish Prison Service work closely with the Office of General Procurement to ensure that quality and value for money are built into all food contract supplies.

The Irish Prison Service food spend for 2016-2018 is shown in the following table.