8. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his views on the fact that there are currently no dedicated addiction nurses working in Irish prisons despite his Department estimating that seven in ten people committed to prison have addiction issues; and when he expects specialist addiction services to commence in prisons. [49882/26]

Deputy Gary Gannon: I commend the Minister on his visit to the Alfie Byrne Road on Friday. It was a source of great annoyance to me that he left such a great impression on the lads down there, so well done to him on that.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan: Very good.

Deputy Gary Gannon: Back to the fighting. I want to speak to him about our prison services and the fact that we do not have any specialist dedicated addiction nurses within the Prison Service, despite over 70% of the prison population having addiction needs.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan: We have not hired people known as addiction nurses since the mid-2010s. I do not want the Deputy to think - I know he does not think this - that because of that, there are no services. There was a change in how we deal with addressing the addiction needs of people in custody. To use a word that is sometimes overused, the Prison Service adopts a multidisciplinary approach to it. This includes nurses, general practitioners and psychologists, supported by in-reach mental health services and addiction counselling services delivered by Merchants Quay Ireland. Merchants Quay Ireland plays a huge role in the context of the role the addiction nurses used to play. It currently provides 19 addiction counsellors, with one vacancy in Cork Prison. In addition, Merchants Quay Ireland has recently introduced six project workers and two prison recovery educators.

To support rehabilitation, reduce reoffending and facilitate successful reintegration into society, people in custody have access to a broad range of clinical and rehabilitative interventions. These include opioid substitution treatment, counselling, harm reduction initiatives, peer-support programmes and psycho-educational services delivered through prison education units and the prison television channel. Merchants Quay Ireland also delivers the national treatment and rehabilitation programme, which is based in the medication unit at Mountjoy Prison. The Irish Prison Service also works closely with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, which provide ongoing support across the prison estate.

As I said, the Prison Service has not employed addiction nurses per se since the mid-2010s. The historic approach of having a narrow and focused resource has been superseded by the prison primary care team and supporting agencies.

Deputy Gary Gannon: I am correct in saying that the programme for Government includes a commitment to recruit addiction nurses. The last addiction nurses left in 2016. We have a problem in our prisons. People are going in there with addictions. Over 70% of the prison population, or 4,000 people, entered prison with some form of addiction. The Minister knows our recidivism rates. Almost exactly seven out of ten people who go into prison will reoffend within three years. A large part of that is precisely because the addictions with which they went into prison are being compounded, in many instances, and there are certainly no recovery options. I do not doubt for a second that Merchants Quay Ireland is doing good work within our prisons, but its representatives have also said continuously that, actually, the supports available are not commensurate with the needs they are meeting while they are in there. There are also any number of reports that call for specialist addiction nurses going in, which are different from general practice nurses because the skill level is different. Comprehensive addiction assessments, and management of withdrawal and medication, can be offered by an addiction nurse. All of these are specialist skills.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan: I have been to 12 of our 13 prisons. I am aware, having spoken to prisoners, prison officers and prison management, of the issues of addiction in prison. However, I also want the Deputy to be aware that there are some success stories as well. There is a lot of good work being done in the prisons in training and getting people off addictive substances. There is success there. The real difficulty is with people who are in for short terms. Even if they get a certain amount of recovery in prison, when they get out they get back on to the appalling vista of addiction. There were six addiction nurses employed by the Prison Service in 2006. However, they had all either left the service or moved into general prison nursing posts by 2016. As I said, the role of addiction nurses has now been superseded by the prison primary care team and supporting agencies. The Irish Prison Service actively reviews the need for addiction nurses. However, there are no plans in the short term to recruit dedicated addiction nurses.

Deputy Gary Gannon: The Minister might want to check the programme for Government in terms of the plans in relation to that, but okay. We have a profound problem when it comes to our prisons. I do not doubt for a second that there are some success stories, but that is by no means the norm. That is actually a failure of opportunity because we talk about the people going into prison for absolute reasons, but while they are there, there is an opportunity to ensure that when they come out, they do not continue the hurt that led them there in the first place. That does require intensive treatments for addiction. At the moment in our prisons, clearly, that is not being met. I do not doubt the work the Minister mentioned by Merchants Quay Ireland. However, that is the moment of intervention when we can actually prevent the follow-on hurt that is coming from a recidivism rate that is extraordinarily high because the addictions are not being dealt with in there. I can reference any number of reports that talk about the need for addiction specialist nurses, the most recent being the Crowe report on prison healthcare in 2022. We need to reflect on the absence of those specific specialists in our prisons.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan: There are a lot of services there providing assessments and care planning, evidence-based interventions, including support for opioid substitution treatment, detoxification and overdose prevention and helping people to access community services on release to reduce relapse and reoffending. There is a good amount of work being done within the Prison Service. There is obviously more that needs to be done. I fully appreciate that. Merchants Quay Ireland is doing a very good job. There is a real challenge in the prisons in terms of trying to deal with people's addiction. I would love to see more resources available to ensure that people can be weaned off addictive substances while they are in prison. The truth of the matter is that there is an opportunity. We do have to use it. I do not mean this facetiously, but there is a captive audience when somebody is in prison. We can try to work on them in the hope that they will not gain access to drugs while in prison. There is a lot of good work being done in keeping drugs out of prisons.