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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Irish Prison Service spending

Summary

Deputy O’Flynn questions payments to podcasters, costly prison accommodation and overseas travel by prison executives; the Tánaiste promises to seek detailed responses and stresses the importance of value for money as capacity expands.

A few weeks back, newspapers revealed that the Irish Prison Service paid almost €25,000 of taxpayers' money for a single podcast by The 2 Johnnies. There are also reports of other podcasters receiving payments of almost €100,000. At the same time, we see extraordinary capital spending on ten single modular homes at Shelton Abbey at a cost of €640,000 each. At Loughan House in Cavan, units housing just one prisoner each are being built on publicly owned land at a unit cost of €520,000. Coincidentally, we see that senior IPS executives travelled to Kentucky the very same week the Kentucky Derby was being held. Executives also travelled to Perth, Kraków and other expensive destinations. In light of this picture of the system, it seems we need the Comptroller and Auditor General to undertake a full forensic audit of these expenditures to restore accountability and public trust in the Irish prison system. Does the Tánaiste agree?

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Simon Harris The Tánaiste Fine Gael

I thank Deputy O'Flynn very much. I heard the Minister for justice comment on the issue regarding podcasters recently and he expressed his surprise and, perhaps, displeasure in that regard. I will ask him to come back to the Deputy on each specific issue he has raised. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is putting a real focus on increasing prison capacity and has worked very hard to secure additional funding for prison capacity. We need that going into the delivery of prisons. Value for money is going to be very important in that regard. I will ask the Minister to reflect further on the issues the Deputy has highlighted. Our plan for the years ahead is to drive forward with increasing prison capacity. I take the point on value for money being important.

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