Written answers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Department of Justice and Equality
Prison Service
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2102. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of category ‘A’ complaints made by prisoners in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to date that were withdrawn, outside scope, upheld, part upheld, not upheld, unable to determine or incomplete, respectively, in tabular form; the length of time it took to complete and communicate the outcomes of complaints to prisoners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43333/25]
Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can assure the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service remains committed to providing safe and secure custody to those in its care, treating everyone with dignity and respect, and dealing effectively with any complaints prisoners may have during their incarceration.
Complaints from prisoners in custody are managed in line with the IPS Prisoner Complaints Policy and overseen by a dedicated Prisoner Complaints Unit who ensure they are dealt with promptly and fairly.
All prisoners have the right to make a complaint at any stage and complaints are treated with the utmost seriousness.
Category A complaints are the most serious category of complaints. All Category A complaints are referred to a panel of external independent investigators and records relating to the management of Category A complaints are made visible to the Office of the Inspector of Prisons on the IPS Prisoner Information Management System (PIMS).
The tables at the link below labelled Category A Prisoner Complaints provide available information for the dates requested. The centralised electronic prisoner complaints system cannot detail the specific length of time taken to complete or communicate the outcome at present, however, work is underway to further develop the ICT system to capture these details and improve record management and process measurement in the future.
Regrettably, progress on the independent investigation of some prisoner complaints was hampered by the pandemic which created a backlog, and a reduction in the number of external independent investigators available to the Irish Prison Service.
The IPS Prisoner Complaints Policy and associated procedures are currently under review. Multilateral engagement is progressing between my Department, the Irish Prison Service, the Ombudsman, and the Inspector of Prisons in order to develop a new Prisoner Complaints System.
Once operational, the intention is that the Irish Prison Service will provide a comprehensive training and awareness raising package for the proposed new Prisoner Complaints System. In addition, it is intended that a detailed information and awareness raising campaign regarding the new system will be facilitated across the whole prison estate.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2103. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of sentenced prisoners who applied via Resettlement Service for social housing in advance of release and who presented for emergency homeless service provision on day of release, in 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43334/25]
Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Measures to address homelessness and the provision of accommodation to people experiencing homelessness are the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
The IPS have advised me that they maintain regular contact with that Department and local authorities to assist planning for the release of prisoners who have identified themselves as homeless or at risk of homelessness.
It is entirely the choice of the individual in custody whether or not to disclose their homeless status to prison authorities during their sentence. When a sentenced prisoner informs prison authorities that they were homeless prior to coming into custody, or that they are at risk of homelessness on release, they are referred to the prison-based Resettlement Service.
The IPS provides funding to an organisation called Tosú (formerly IASIO) who provide Resettlement co-ordinators within Irish prisons. The co-ordinators work with individual prisoners and the relevant local authority to complete their social housing application and identify accommodation solutions ahead of their release into the community. They may also work with the individual in custody to submit social welfare and medical card applications to appropriate contact points.
Releases from prison are planned to help people to make informed and effective transitions from prison to the community.
The IPS do not have data on hand in relation to released prisoners who present to emergency homeless services on the day of their release. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government would be best placed to provide that information.
The information related to prisons applications for social housing in advance of release is listed in the table below.
Year | Housing Applications |
---|---|
2022 | 270 |
2023 | 316 |
2024 | 317 |
2025 (Up to 27/06/2025) | 162 |
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