The head of the Irish Prison Service said today that prisons would begin to be equipped with high-tech phone-blocking systems from next month.
Speaking on RTÉ this afternoon, Brian Purcell, director general of the Irish Prison Service, conceded there had been problems with mobile phones but said Ireland is not unique in this suffering problems with them in prisons.
He also rejected the claim that the Prison Service had lost control over prisoners in the service.
In fact, Mr Purcell said, the service was "perhaps unique" in that it was poised be the first prison system in Europe to successfully block mobile signals for an entire prison by the end of October.
He said it was hoped in five or six weeks time to complete the pilot phone-blocking programme, and then roll it out to the new block in Portlaoise and later to the rest of the State's closed prisons, using "cutting edge and state-of-art technology".
There are also plans to roll out airport-style scanners in the State's prisons to search visitors According to an Irish Prison Service spokesman, the measures are the latest in an ongoing upgrade of security measures at Irish prisons.
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said it fully supported these measures but warned that "very serious matters are still not being dealt with on the ground".
John Clinton, general secretary of the POA, said today: "Senior Irish Prison Service officials, prison governors and senior managers still take and use mobile phones in our prisons, and this should not be allowed . . . builders and contractors take their mobile phones into some of our prison compounds - and this most serious matter is not being tackled.”
Mr Clinton added: “Last weekend we learned that eight mobile phones were thrown over the wall into Mountjoy prison, and just one was blocked by the netting. . . and we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg."
In May 2006, Portlaoise prisoner John Daly - an armed robber from Finglas, Dublin, made an infamous phone call to RTÉ's Livelineprogramme.
Daly's call to Joe Duffy during the general election campaign, was embarrassing for then-minister for justice Michael McDowell, and gardaí were ordered into Portlaoise prison.
