Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1235. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of social workers employed by the Irish Prison Service. [1019/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service do not employ social workers directly.

The services of medical social workers, psychiatric social workers and additional multi-disciplinary support are provided by a variety of external agencies and are not provided by prison staff.

Probation Officers, many of whom are social work qualified, are assigned to work in prison settings nationally and work with identified prisoners as valued members of multi-disciplinary teams.This can mean working closely with prison staff, psychologists, addiction specialists and community based organisations.

There are currently 25 Probation Officers and 7 Senior Probation Officers, plus 1 Regional Manager (Assistant Principal Probation Officer Grade) assigned to work specifically in prison settings.