Inspector of Prisons Patricia Gilheaney has called for the government to continue progressing the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill in the Annual Report of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons. This piece of legislation, which was approved by the government in 2011 but has since stalled, would allow for the implementation of Ireland’s obligations under OPCAT.

Gilheaney expressed concern that the current legislation underpinning the Inspector of Prisons is lacking, and that the Office of the Inspector of Prisons does not have sufficient human or fiscal resources to comply with its current statutory duties. Only one prison inspection report has been published since 2014.

Read the annual report here.