A juvenile remand prisoner was on the run yesterday after he and two other youths escaped through the skylight of a Garda van bringing them to a Dublin court.
They escaped at 10.15 a.m. as the van pulled up in traffic in Dorset Street at the junction with the North Circular Road, minutes after leaving St Patrick's Institution beside Mountjoy Prison.
The three prisoners under escort broke through the skylight and climbed onto the roof of the van before escaping.
Two were recaptured 10 minutes later with the assistance of a Garda helicopter and mobile units from nearby divisions.
But a 19-year-old serving a 22-month sentence for road traffic and other minor offences, and currently on remand for other alleged offences, had not been found last night.
Chief Supt Nacie Rice said on RTE radio's News At One yesterday that the van involved was one of two which had been purpose-built to bring remand prisoners to Kilmainham District Court and the Bridewell.
About 6,000 prisoners a year were transported in these vans to various courts.
"This is the first escape from one of those type of vans and I can assure you it will be the last," he said.
Asked if the escape through the vehicle's skylight would prompt a review of the design of the vans, Chief Supt Rice said: "You must remember that we are bringing people that are on remand, they are humans who are entitled to their dignity, and you must balance security with the dignity of every human."
The Garda Press Office indicated that there were no officers in the rear of the van at the time.
"Normally there are no guards with the prisoners in these type of vans. They are not ordinary Garda vans, they are prison vans," a spokesman said.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, called on the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to issue a full statement on what amounted to "a serious lapse in security".
Democratic Left's spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz McManus, said there must be a full review of the procedures used for transporting prisoners to court following the escape.
"If prisoners can escape through a skylight when the van is stopped in traffic, apparently as easily as opening a sun roof on a car, then something is fundamentally wrong with the security procedures. Were there no prison officers or gardai travelling in the body of the van with the prisoners, and if there were, how could this escape have happened?" asked Ms McManus.
"We have one of the highest warder to prisoner ratios in Europe and the public have a right to expect that casual escapes like this should not be allowed to happen."