Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1073. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when it is intended to publish all outstanding reports on the Dóchas centre for women prisoners; the reason for the delay with this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13141/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) was established under the Prisons Act 2007 and is independent in how it carries out its functions. The Inspector's role is to carry out regular inspections of prisons.

The OIP has submitted a number of reports relating to Mountjoy Women’s Prison (Dóchas Centre) which have not yet been published.

The Inspector of Prisons' three day monitoring report of the Dóchas Centre was received in my office in August 2020. The Inspector was requested to carry out an investigation into matters arising in the Dóchas Centre, under section 31(2) of the Prisons Act and this investigation report was submitted in February 2022. It was always intended that these reports would be reviewed for publication together but, based on legal advice received by the Department from the Office of the Attorney General, it is not proposed to publish either of those reports at this time.

In addition, a supplementary report requested by the Minister in relation to matters arising from the section 31(2) investigation was received in July 2022.

Consideration of these reports is ongoing and I am therefore not in a position to publish them or comment further on their contents at this time.

In addition, the Deputy may be aware that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to monitor the situation within prisons for prisoners and staff, the then Inspector of Prisons suspended her 2021 general inspection programme and undertook a COVID-19 focused inspection schedule, designed to provide a human rights-based assessment of the response of the Irish Prison Service to the pandemic. Eight of these reports were published during 2021 with the final set of the thematic reports dealing with: Loughan House Open Centre; Midlands; Castlerea; and Mountjoy Women’s (Dóchas Centre), submitted to my Department and subsequently published in 2022.

Separately, the Deputy may wish to note that under Rule 119(1) of the Prison Rules, each Chaplain is required to submit a report to the Director General and to the Governor on matters relating to the provision of chaplaincy services in the preceding year. The suite of 2021 Chaplains reports, including the one from the Dóchas Centre, have now been finalised and submitted to my Department for information. I understand that the Irish Prison Service expects to publish them as a group to the Irish Prison Service website shortly.