Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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595. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will carry out a review of single cell accommodation across the prison estate before the end of 2022. [17576/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the number of people in custody varies over time. The Irish Prison Service carries out cell occupancy census at regular intervals and the data from the latest published cell occupancy census carried out by the Service indicates that 54% of prisoners in custody are accommodated in single cell accommodation.

The provision of single cell accommodation for all prisoners is not currently feasible due to the existing capacity within the prison estate, and current levels of committals.

The Deputy may be aware that there are approximately 3,300 usable cells in the estate with approximately 3,980 people in custody at any point in time.

The Deputy may also wish to note that some prisoners are accommodated in multi-occupancy cells for reasons other than capacity and some prisoners, at committal stage, indicate a preference to share a cell with another person who may be known to them.

It is important to note that all prisoners are assessed by prison management on committal with regard to their suitability for sharing a cell.

I can also advise the Deputy that Government continues to invest in the capital development of the prison estate. Later this year, the reopening of the Training in Mountjoy unit will provide an additional 96 spaces. The opening of new male accommodation in Limerick in late 2022 will result in an additional 90 prisoner cell spaces being available and the completion of a new standalone female prison currently underway in Limerick prison will provide 40 new female cell spaces later this year.

The need to ensure the continued availability of modern prison facilities with adequate capacity will be central to the development of the new Irish Prison Service Capital Strategy 2023, against the background of the work underway as part of the Programme for Government commitment to develop policies and proposals to review policy options for prison and penal reform, including the effective and appropriate use of non-custodial sanctions.

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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596. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will request the Irish Prison Service to carry out a review of all mental health supports available to persons in prison with a view to identifying the areas in which increased resourcing is needed. [17577/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Addressing the mental health challenges of those interacting with the Criminal Justice System is a major challenge and while there are no easy fixes, the Government is determined to make sure that the right help and support is available for those who need it.

As the Deputy may be aware, considerable progress has been made on the Programme for Government commitment to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those imprisoned, and primary care support on release.

Last April, I, together with the Minister for Health and Ministers of State Frank Feighan and Mary Butler, established a High Level Taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of persons interacting with the criminal justice system. The Taskforce is independently chaired by former Minister of State Kathleen Lynch.

The Taskforce already had nine plenary meetings and has established three subgroups on diversion, capacity issues in the Prison Service and National Forensic Mental Health Services, and community issues, including care after release.

Each of the subgroups comprises of relevant experts, chaired by high ranking officials from the criminal justice sector, with the health leads represented and contributing to all. Each of these groups have met on at least ten occasions.

The Taskforce has engaged with a large number of relevant bodies and civil society actors, including meeting with the Mental Health Commission on 2 December 2021 and, more recently, with the Chairperson of the National Prison Visiting Committees Chairpersons Group and with the Inspector of Prisons.

The Taskforce has also received presentations from relevant stakeholders including the Mental Health Commission, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, the Irish Penal Reform Trust and Crowe Consulting on the comprehensive Health Needs Assessment embarked on by the Prison Service.

The Taskforce submitted its interim report to myself and my colleague the Minister for Health on 22 November 2021. I also met the group before Christmas to get an update on their work.

I am advised that the work of the Taskforce is continuing apace with the aim of finalising a report, including a high level implementation plan assigning responsibility and timelines for the implementation of its recommendations, early in Quarter 2.

In addition to the work of the Task Force, this commitment is reflected in the provision of over €2 million in additional funding for the Prison Service to improve mental health services under Budget 2022. This includes just over €1 million for psychologists and specialist mental health nurses in prisons who can work with prisoners to address mental health issues for all categories of offender.

Decisions regarding placement of these additional psychologists are currently being considered and will be based on the mental health needs and overall psychologist-to-prisoner ratio across the estate. To this end, it is intended to recruit additional psychologists throughout 2022.

In addition, I understand that this year, the Prison Service intends to increase the mental health qualifications and skills within the Service's nursing workforce through recruitment, training and development.

The Prison Service continues to work to enhance and improve its level of medical service delivery to prisoners. The Service has embarked on a comprehensive Health Needs Assessment (HNA) to examine the broad range of health care services that are provided across the entire prison estate. This includes the provision of mental health services and the possible recruitment of specialist mental health nurses will be considered in the context of the outcome of the HNA when finalised.