A retired Garda superintendent is to lead an investigation into how a prisoner in a high security jail was able to ring RTÉ's Livelineusing a mobile phone.
The retired garda, who has not been named for security reasons, along with a senior official from the Irish Prison Service, will also review the security regime at Portlaoise jail.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell told the Prison Officers Association conference in Sligo yesterday that more than 600 mobile phones - an average of five a day - had been seized in Irish prisons so far this year.
The inquiry was ordered by the director general of the prison service, Brian Purcell, in response to Tuesday's incident when John Daly, who is serving nine years for armed robbery, rang RTÉ from his cell in Portlaoise. On Wednesday night, a second incident involving a prisoner with a mobile phone occurred when a Mountjoy inmate rang FM104.
Mr Purcell said a "concerted effort" was being made to deal with the problem of mobile phones in prison, and blocking technology which will undergo a trial in Midlands Prison may be rolled out elsewhere. He said the service was working to tighten up the trafficking of contraband into prisons, including mobile phones and drugs.
The measures, which are under negotiation with the Department of Justice, include dedicated dogs and search teams for each prison.
Mr McDowell went on Livelineyesterday to reject suggestions that an informal arrangement existed to allow serious criminals to use mobile phones in prison.
He said it was "completely untrue. If there was such an arrangement it would be a serious matter. It's illegal to have a mobile phone in prison and, from May 1st, it's an indictable offence carrying a five-year sentence."
He rejected reports that staff in Portlaoise had informed authorities that there were 50 mobile phones in the hands of inmates there.
Mr McDowell told the Prison Officers' Association that it should not be more difficult to get a phone on to an aircraft than it is to get one into an Irish prison. He said no governor had authority from him to take a lax view on possession of phones or availability of drugs, and any governor found to have departed from the national standards in this area would be accountable.
He said there were 300 officers for 120 prisoners in Portlaoise, which he said was "a very, very high ratio". While commending frontline prison staff for their role in combating drugs, he said it would be remiss of him not to mention the trafficking by a small minority of staff, who he said were letting down the overwhelming majority of honest hard-working prison officers.