Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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211. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when the terms of reference and the structure of a cross-agency taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those in prison following on from the Council of Europe committee on the prevention of torture report, will be finalised and the task force will be set up; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4815/21]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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212. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the proposed cross-agency taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those in prison will be engaging in a public consultation as part of their work; the proposed nature of the consultation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4816/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 211 and 212 together.

I wish to inform the Deputy that collaboration with the Minister for Health on the development of Terms of Reference and structure for the establishment of the Task Force is now at an advanced stage.

The Terms of Reference have been agreed in principle between our two Departments and work is now underway to identify a Chair and put in place other administrative details.

Both I and the Minister for Health recognise the urgent need to design and put in place proper systems to care for the most vulnerable people who come into contact with the criminal justice system and establishment of the Task Force is a priority objective to move forward in the first quarter of 2021.

Membership of the Task Force however is not yet finalised and this is not expected to be done before the Chair is appointed.

The Deputy will wish to be aware that apart from membership, it is expected that the work of the Task Force will require wide consultation with relevant stakeholders and I hope to be in a position to provide further details in relation to this issue in the coming weeks.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if there has been a change of policy since 2019 in relation to the prison regime in the Dóchas Centre in Dublin; if there is a policy to align the regime there with the regime in men’s prisons; if so, the reason for this given Ireland voted along with 192 other nations to unanimously pass the Bangkok Rules at the United Nations relating to the need to respect and meet the special characteristics and needs of women in the criminal justice system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4817/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to refer the Deputy to my previous reply to Parliamentary Question number 697 of 13 January 2021, which is set out below. I can confirm that this positon remains unchanged.

I wish to reassure the Deputy that the Dóchas Centre is operated in full compliance with the Bangkok Rules passed at the United Nations in 2010.

The ethos upon which the Dóchas Centre is operated is that the women prisoners should live together in a community style setting. The women are accommodated in houses rather than cell blocks and there is no categorisation of female prisoners. The regime in the Dóchas Centre is very much focused on training and rehabilitation.

However, the requirement to ensure the safety and security of all those who live and work in our prisons is universal and in that regard there were changes made in 2019 to enhance the structure of the prison day in the Dóchas. I am informed by the Irish Prison Service that this has enhanced the regime in the prison and allowed for greater access to vital rehabilitative services. As a result, the women accommodated in the Dóchas now have better access to important services such as mental health services, Psychology Service and Addiction Counsellors.

The Prison Service is acutely aware of the fact that women prisoners are a vulnerable group within the prison system and is aware that the supports for female offenders and their rehabilitative needs are very different to male offenders.

The Deputy will wish to be aware that staff working with female offenders are provided with bespoke training and in February 2020 the Prison Service introduced a new tailored programme for staff to address the special needs of women prisoners called ‘Working with Women in Custody’.

To enhance the rehabilitative opportunities for female offenders a new programme in partnership with the Probation Service, called the Outlook Programme which is a step down unit for women offenders, was opened in May 2019. The project is managed by Focus Ireland and the vision of the programme is to promote the rehabilitation and re-integration of women leaving prison and those who have accommodation needs requiring support in the community.

Finally, it may interest the Deputy to know that the construction of a new prison facility to provide accommodation for 50 female prisoners in Limerick Prison is scheduled to become operational in Q4 2021. The design of the facility is based on the principle of rehabilitation and normalisation recognising the unique requirements of female offenders.