Catherine Murphy
Question:319. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the date on which two outstanding inspector of prisons' reports on the Dóchas Centre will be published (details supplied). [28277/24]
View answerTuesday, 2 July 2024
Questions (319)
Written answers
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.
The Inspector's three day monitoring report of the Dóchas Centre, conducted in April and May 2020, was received in my office in August 2020, and it was deemed possible following legal advice to publish this report in January of this year.
I requested the 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 in 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 consideration it is not possible to publish these reports at this time or comment further on their content.