Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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668. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the details of the meetings, correspondence and engagements she and her officials have had with a group (details supplied); if she will specifically address the concerns outlined by the group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11413/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Justice, I have not had any meetings with the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (ISAG), nor has my colleague the Minister of State James Browne T.D. Furthermore, I am not aware of any meetings between my officials in the Department of Justice and the ISAG.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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669. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prison staff and prisoners, respectively, who have tested positive for Covid-19 since March 2020 to date in 2021, by prison; the number who required hospitalisation; and the procedures that are in place for when a prisoner is required to stay in hospital due to Covid-19. [11426/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that as of 1 March 2021, there have been 97 confirmed prisoner cases of Covid-19 in our prisons. Of these cases, 44 were community based infections, which were detected during the committal testing process.

The Deputy will also be aware that since October 2020 there have been 9 confirmed Covid-19 outbreaks within our prisons resulting in 53 confirmed Covid-19 cases among the general prison population

To date, no prisoners have been hospitalised with Covid-19.

I have been informed by the Irish Prison Service that there are 26 prisoners across the estate currently being treated for Covid-19.

A breakdown of cases per location since September 2020 is set out in Table 1.

Table 1. Record of prisoners as per prison as of 1 March 2021

The Irish Prison Service has further advised that for operational and confidentiality reasons they cannot provide a breakdown of cases reported by staff members by prison, but have advised that since March 2020 a total of 312 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported by staff members.