Minister: No more 'slopping out' at Mountjoy by next year
Justice Minister Alan Shatter said today that the practice of slopping out at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin will be phased out by the end of the year.
Alan Shatter, speaking at the Oireachtas Justice Committee this morning, said that the installation of in-cell sanitation will be completed in all wings in the coming months.
Minister Shatter also said that he is introducing measures to free up prison officers from administration duty.
He said that the move will deliver €3.5m in annual savings.
"Recruitment of prison administrative support officers is continuing," he said.
"These officers, who are being redeployed from elsewhere in the civil service, will carry out administrative tasks previously undertaken by prison officers.
"This will allow us to release these fully trained prison clerks from administrative tasks to essential frontline duties."
