Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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140. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of death-in-custody reports that have been submitted by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons to her in each on the past three years, broken down by prison; and the number from each year that still await publication. [28537/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Inspector of Prisons, established under the Prisons Act 2007, is independent in how he carries out his functions. One of those functions is to investigate all Deaths in Custody and deaths that occur within one month of temporary release from Prison.

The objective for investigation of deaths in custody is to establish the circumstances and events surrounding the death, including the care provided by the Irish Prison Service, and to make recommendations for improvements where needed. It also provides an opportunity for the concerns of families to be considered.

Below are the final reports into deaths in custody which have been received from the IoP from 1 January 2021 to present.

*All Death in Custody reports are anonymised.

**Not necessarily location of death. A number of deaths in custody take place in hospital and hospice settings, and while prisoners are on temporary release (TR).

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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141. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will list all reports from the Office of the Inspector of Prisons that await publication, providing details of date received by her Office and by the type of the report. [28538/24]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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142. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reasons for the delay in publication for any report her office has received from the Office of the Inspector of Prisons for more than four weeks. [28539/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 142 together.

As the Deputy is aware, 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.

There are two unpublished reports of the Inspector of Prisons in relation to the women’s prison at Mountjoy – the Dóchas Centre. The first report arises out of my request to the then Inspector 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 on 15 February 2022. In addition, a supplementary report which I requested in relation to matters arising from the section 31(2) investigation was received in July 2022.

Having regard to ongoing legal considerations it is not currently possible to publish these reports or comment further on their content. In addition as the Deputy may be aware, the Inspector of Prisons completed a full inspection of the Dóchas Centre last year and its submission is awaited.

The Inspector of Prisons submitted the 2023 Annual Report for his office to me on 29 March this year. It is under active consideration within my Department and it will be published when this process is completed.

The Inspector has also submitted a total of seven Death in Custody Reports to my Department which is processing them for publication as quickly as possible. The details are as follows:

The normal process of reviewing a report of the Inspector of Prisons for publication involves analysis and consultation within the Department and the development of responses and action plans by the Irish Prison Service. This generally includes the issues raised by the Inspector and, where appropriate, the mitigations identified by the Irish Prison Service. My Department is in discussion with the Inspector with a view to reducing the current timeframes.

Death in custody reports are published together with the responding Action Plan which the Inspector seeks from the Irish Prison Service. In addition, there is engagement between my officials and the Inspectorate in relation to quality control issues in the reports. Finally, I should add that the publication date is generally agreed between my Department and the Inspector and notified to the family of the deceased person.

I recognise how important these reports are both to bereaved families and in identifying any systematic issues to prevent future tragedies so I can assure the Deputy that I am keen to receive and publish these and the OIP inspection reports without any undue delay.