Leaks about prisoners ‘will not be tolerated’, says Frances Fitzgerald

The leaking of information about prisoners' private affairs by prison officers is illegal and "will not be tolerated", Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has warned.

She has sought a report from the director of the Prison Service about the release of information to a reporter about a visit by Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív to a prisoner in Limerick prison on October 30th.

Mr Ó Cuív, who wrote to the Minister about the incident, said the information “can only have come from within the Irish Prison Service”.

During Dáil justice questions he asked the Minister what she would do to “stop this activity, which is totally in breach of regulations”.

He said details of the room he met the prisoner in were released, as well as how long the conversation took. It was unfair that the reputation of all other prison officers and other staff who complied with the regulations “is sullied by a small number who, for whatever reason, leak information”.

Any member of the Irish Prison Service who discharges or divulges information to a third party “is not only contravening policy, but is also contravening the law”.

The Minister said she had spoken to the director of the Irish Prison Service after receiving Mr Ó Cuív’s letter. She said it was open to Mr Ó Cuív to go directly to the Garda, but she was happy to arrange a meeting between him and the Prison Service director.

And “depending on the content of the report and taking account of what the deputy said in his letter to me, clearly legal advice will also be sought by the Irish Prison Service in respect of further action”.