Inmate's death not due to prison dispute

The death of an inmate who became ill during the night at Mountjoy Prison could not be blamed on industrial action currently being taken by prison doctors, the governor of Mountjoy has said.

Mr John Lonergan told The Irish Times that even if doctors were working as normal the man would not have been seen by a doctor until yesterday morning.

"Contrary to what people think, we don't have doctors here on duty all the time. The man was seen by a medical orderly just after 8 p.m. when he was committed. Prison doctors would gone home by that stage and it would be normal for the inmate to be examined the next morning by the doctor."

The man found dead in Mountjoy was a 34-year-old from Westmeath. He was committed to Mountjoy on Thursday to serve a five-day sentence for a drunk and disorderly offence. He was sent to prison after he declined to pay a €200 fine. He was epileptic and also had a history of psychiatric illness.

He told the medical orderly examining him that he had not taken medication for his epilepsy for around two months. He did not complain of feeling unwell and was not dependent on illicit drugs. He served a short sentence in 1997 in Loughan House, Co Cavan, for a minor offence but had not been in prison since.

The inmate was found dead at around 8.15 a.m. when prison officers opened cells. He was sharing a cell with another inmate. That man told prison staff that while his cellmate had been ill during the night, he believed it was not sufficiently serious to alert prison staff.

The man's cell was sealed off after his remains were discovered. The results of a post mortem were not available last night.

Prison doctors began industrial action on May 4th in a dispute over pay. Since then they have provided only a limited service. Prisoners are being taken to public hospitals when the need arises and Army doctors are also being used to cover for the striking prison doctors.

The Defence Forces staff representative association, PDFORRA, has criticised the use of Army doctors at a time when "the Army medical service is totally overstretched". PDFORRA general secretary, Mr Gerry Rooney, said: "This decision to send Army doctors into the prisons will seriously impact on the capacity to provide services for our members and this is unacceptable.

"We have information which shows that the Army medical service is totally under strength. Only 20 of the 51 medical doctor appointments have been filled and this creates huge difficulties in regard to service provision. These 20 doctors must provide medical services for Defence Forces personnel both at home and overseas."

The Irish Prison Service said the industrial action by the 23 prison doctors was putting prisoners' lives at risk. It had no choice but to bring in the Army doctors.

The dispute is likely to escalate on Wednesday when the Irish Medical Organisation will hold a meeting of prison doctors to discuss the possibility of resigning en masse. The Prison Officers' Association said the current situation regarding health cover in the prisons was "wholly unacceptable".