EUR650,000 paid to committees for prison visiting

Members of prison visiting committees were paid €650,000 in mileage and subsistence allowances last year.

The highest claimant in 2002, on €11,565, was Ms Carmel Bolger, a member of the Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, visitor committee.

Five of the top six claimants live in Kerry; four of them visit prisons in Dublin, and the other visits Loughan House, Co Cavan.

The visitor committee for St Patrick's Institution, Dublin, is 10-strong. Yet none of the members is from Dublin, and none reside in counties close to Dublin.

Three are from Kerry, two are from Roscommon, two are from Donegal, while the remaining three members are from Leitrim, Galway and Cork.

The 14-strong visitor committee for Fort Mitchel, Spike Island, Cork, were paid a total of over €35,000 in 2002.

The group's annual report to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is 11 paragraphs long.

Visitor committees are appointed by the Minister for Justice. They visit prisons, usually on a monthly basis, where they interview prisoners and carry out inspections. They present their findings to the Minister in an annual report.

While Ms Bolger was paid €11,565 in expenses in 2002, that payment was in respect of visits undertaken by her since 1999.

Mr Denis Brosnan, a member of the Loughan House, Cavan, committee was the next highest claimant, incurring expenses of €7,860 on his trips to and from his home in Kerry.

In third place was Mr John O'Leary. He incurred expenses of €7,577 as he travelled between Mountjoy and his Kerry home.

Earlier this year, Fine Gael TD Mr Jim O'Keeffe said the system had become a vehicle for party political reward.

"I feel Fianna Fáil, and probably to a lesser extent, the PDs, have used [visitor committees] as a pork-barrel system for party supporters."

"I am not against people involved with various parties being involved. However, you shouldn't need to be a card-carrying member to be appointed. Similarly, living far from a prison shouldn't exclude a person, but in the main, members should live in the counties close to the prison they will be visiting."

In a report sent to Mr McDowell earlier this year, Mr O'Keeffe recommended a rationalisation of the visitor committee system. He believes committees should have fewer members, and should be paid an annual fee of "a few grand" rather than mileage.

Members of committees are not paid fees. They are paid mileage and subsistence allowance in respect of trips to and from the jails they visit.

Mr McDowell has already indicated he plans to review the system. A spokesman for the Minister last night said changes will be contained in the planned Prisons Bill, which will be published next year.

"The Minister has also confirmed that anyone he appoints from now on will reside in the county where the jail is located, or in an adjoining county," the spokesman said.

Members of the visiting committee at Mountjoy were paid the largest sum collectively, €65,892. Three of the 12 members are from Dublin and there are two from both Kerry and Kildare. The remaining five are from Longford, Mayo, Galway, Roscommon and Cork.

The committee for Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow, collectively incurred expenses of just €20,801, the least of all 16 committees. Six of the committee members live in Wicklow. The remaining four are from Dublin, Kildare, Wexford and Tipperary.