Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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157. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners who are addicted; and the number of full-time addiction nurses are there employed in Mountjoy Prison. [39472/24]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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165. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of full-time addiction nurses employed, solely for the purpose of the role of addiction nurse, in the Irish Prison Service in the years 2017 to 2024 inclusive respectively, in tabular form. [39412/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 165 together.

I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service employs nurses across the prison estate to provide primary care to the prison population and work as part of the prison healthcare team.

The Irish Prison Service does not currently employ full-time Addiction Nurses. There are, however, a number of primary care nurses who are assigned the function of carrying out specialist addiction assessments when this is feasible taking account of the operational demands of the prison.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Irish Prison Service engages Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) to provide a prison-based addiction counselling service across the entire Irish Prison Service estate (with the exception of Arbour Hill Prison and the Training Unit where the clinical need is currently under review).

The MQI service provides a range of counselling and intervention skills related to substance misuse and dependency. These skills include motivational interviewing and enhancement therapy, a twelve step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy and harm reduction approaches and people in custody are offered one to one counselling and group work interventions.

Furthermore, the Deputy may wish to know that the Irish Prison Service has recently employed a national lead to oversee the provision of Mental Health and Addiction in Irish prisons.

I can also advise the Deputy that preventing access to contraband into prisons continues to be a high priority for the Irish Prison Service. The prison environment mirrors the same range of activity and challenges arising in many communities grappling with the scourge of harmful drug use. A significantly high proportion of prisoners, approximately 80%, are committed to custody with addiction issues. The Irish Prison Service published a new Drugs Strategy on 29 November 2023, setting out clear measures to be taken by the Prison Service to tackle the problem of illicit drug use over the next three years.