278. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of drug seizures smuggled into prisons between 2020 and 2025, broken down by prison, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54124/25]

Jim O'Callaghan, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: I can assure the Deputy that Irish Prison Service staff work tirelessly to take steps to reduce the flow of illicit substances into our prisons. The prevention of access to contraband including illegal drugs into prisons will always be a high priority for the Irish Prison Service. The Irish Prison Service has committed to continuing to invest in new technologies and measures to support our efforts to keep contraband out of prisons.

This includes security measures such as the installation of nets over exercise yards, vigilant observation of prisoners by staff, enhanced CCTV monitoring, the stricter control of visits and the use of random and targeted searches on a daily basis.

It is the case that over 70% of people committed to prison have issues with drug addiction. All prisoners on committal are assessed and a treatment plan is agreed for those who wish to address addiction issues.

The information requested on the total number of drug seizures in prisons from 2020 to 2025 is set out in the attached tables. These statistics from 2015-2024 are available on the Irish Prison Service website.

The Irish Prison Service does not collate statistics on the value of drug finds, as they do not have the facility to test for quantity or substance type. Any suspected drug seizure is passed to An Garda Síochána for investigation.

Drug Seizures 2020-2025