In line with the legislation currently governing the work of the Inspectorate of Prisons, it is the prerogative of the Minister for Justice to publish the Inspectorate’s reports. The Minister has today published a report on the Inspectorate’s April 2020 monitoring visit to the Dóchas Centre, which was submitted to the Minister in August 2020.
The report is accompanied by the following statement made by the Minister under section 31(5) of the Prisons Act 2007:
Accompanying Statement concerning redactions made to Report of the Inspector of Prisons entitled Inspection Report| Oversight Monitoring Visit during Covid-19 Pandemic| Mountjoy Female Prison (Dóchas Centre)
Section 31(3) of the Prisons Act 2007 provides that the Minister for Justice shall, as soon as practicable after receiving a report of the Inspector of Prisons, cause it to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and to be published.
Subsection (4)(b) states that the Minister may omit any matter from any report so laid or published where he or she is of the opinion, after consultation with the Secretary-General to the Government, that its disclosure:
(i) would be contrary to the public interest, or
(ii) may infringe the constitutional rights of any person
Having consulted with the Secretary General to the Government, the Minister has omitted certain matters from the report under section 31(4)(b) of the Prisons Act 2007.
This statement is made in accordance with Section 31(5) of the Act which provides that where any matters are so omitted, a statement to that effect shall be attached to the report concerned on its being laid before each House of the Oireachtas and on its publication.