Parliamentary Question: Recidivism Levels

19th June 2001

293. Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of offenders serving prison sentences who have convictions for previous offences and previously served sentences as a result of criminal convictions either as an adult or as a minor. [17982/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue): I have been advised by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service that statistics are not maintained in such a way as to enable the precise information sought by the Deputy to be readily available. At present the compilation and analysis of statistics must be done manually and as this is an extremely time-consuming and staff intensive process it has not been possible to release staff for this work. A new information technology programme, authorised by me, for the prison service is well advanced. As part of the programme a comprehensive prisoner records database is currently being deployed across the service. This programme will address the lack of accessible information about prisoners, provide management with necessary information and enable the automation of many existing functions.