Minster for Justice Michael McDowell has said that many of the criticisms levelled at the prison service in reports published yesterday have already been dealt with.
"The Minister has forwarded the reports to the Irish Prison Service who will give careful consideration to the issues raised," a spokesman for Mr McDowell said yesterday. "The Minister values the work of the inspector of prisons and the visiting committees and the reports that they have made."
The director general of the Irish Prison Service, Brian Purcell, said the reports spanned "a period of profound change in the prison service". In 2003, there was an "unacceptable level of overtime working in the prison service" which in turn led to massive cutbacks in 2004 and 2005.
"As a result," Mr Purcell added, "during the period covered by the reports, the major cuts in overtime expenditure, coupled with the attendance arrangements that were in place did lead to cuts, for necessary operational reasons, in services to prisoners."
New working arrangements accepted by the Prison Officers Association this month "will not only restore but actually enhance prisoner regimes in the years ahead, particularly in terms of improving access to services, the availability of better facilities and making more productive use of out-of-cell time for prisoners," he continued.
Mr Purcell said that much progress has been made in the last 12 months in improving educational and workshop facilities for prisoners.
These included the refurbishment of workshops at St Patrick's Institution for young offenders in Dublin and the refurbishment of Cloverhill Prison's education centre in Dublin.