Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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99. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason behind the delay in publishing the 2021 annual resort of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, which was submitted to her office on 16 February 2022 and published on 14 September 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61075/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Section 32 of the Prisons Act 2007 provides that the Inspector of Prisons shall submit a report to the Minister for Justice, not later than 31 March in any year or such later date as may be specified by the Minister for Justice, on the performance of the Inspector’s functions during the previous year. 

I can confirm that the Inspector of Prisons' Annual Report for 2021 was submitted to my Department on, 16 February 2022, and that it was broadly completed at that stage. However, on review it was found that the report did not fully meet reporting requirements in relation to the Office’s own governance. The Office engaged constructively with the appropriate officials of the Department to address these requirements and the report was finalised in May 2022. 

Under Section 32(3) of the Prisons Act 2007, the Minister for Justice is required to lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas the Annual Reports submitted by the Inspector of Prisons. Such reports are first required to be brought to the attention of the Cabinet. Having considered the finalised report Minister McEntee brought it to Cabinet on 31 August 2022. Once noted by Cabinet, Minister McEntee published the report shortly thereafter.

It would be my intention always to publish Annual Reports as early as possible.