34 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Justice the consideration, if any, she has given to the appointment of a national prisons board as recommended by the recent report of the Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee and the Whitaker report. [3527/96]

The Government's policy document A Government of Renewal gives an undertaking that the question of the establishment of a prisons board to manage the day-to-day running of the prisons would be examined. The setting up of such a board has been recommended by the Committee of Inquiry into the Penal System which was chaired by Dr. T.K. Whitaker and which reported in 1985.

The question of setting up a prisons board involves major issues of policy. Those issues are actively being pursued by me in the context of a review of the management structures of the prisons and my Department is involved in ongoing discussions with the Department of Finance in this regard.