Parliamentary Question: Prison Health Care Policy

20th February 2002

  96. Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department is taking a prominent role in relation to the health of prisoners. [5834/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin): My colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, has overall responsibility for prison health care policy. However, my Department and health boards assist and support the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the delivery of health services to prisoners.

My Department was represented on the group that reviewed the structure and organisation of prison health care services and published its report in May 2001. The group endorsed the concept that there should be equivalence of care between the prison population and the general population and made a number of recommendations in order to achieve this goal.

I am aware that the Irish Prisons Service is in consultation with a number of agencies, including my Department and health boards, in order to implement these recommendations. The national health strategy also endorsed the report and I can assure the Deputy that my Department and health boards will work in partnership with colleagues in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and with the Irish Prisons Service to ensure that services are developed and delivered in an equitable fashion to all persons, whether they are inside or out of prison.

A good model of such partnership is the development of drug treatment services in prisons. A formal partnership has been set up between the Eastern Regional Health Authority and five major Dublin based prisons. A co-ordinator has just been appointed by the authority, who will be based in the Irish Prisons Service, and will ensure that there is a continuum of treatment and care for drug misusers, both in prison and in the community on release.