DAIL BRIEFS: Suicide rates in Irish prisons have risen since the late 1980s from an average of one a year to between three and four annually, according to the latest figures.
There were two apparent suicides this year, but inquests have not yet taken place. The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, informed Mr John Bruton (FG, Meath) that since 1988 the number of prisoners who took their own lives varied from one death in a number of years to six in 1999.
Between 1980 and 1987 there was one suicide a year on average.
The Minister pointed out, however, in a reply to a written parliamentary question that the prison population has increased considerably. In 1980 the average daily prison population was 1,215 compared to 3,163 last year.