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CONCERNS HAVE BEEN raised about the readiness of Irish prisons to respond to the spread of Covid-19.
Last night, four new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, bringing the total number of cases here to six.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust says it is concerned that overcrowded Irish prisons could face difficulties in containing the virus were it to be detected in a prisoner.
As of 3 March 2020, there are 4,200 people in Irish prisons – a number that is high by Irish standards with an increase of nearly 600 inmates since 2017.
Fíona Ní Chinnéide, the Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, said that managing infectious diseases in prisons was a constant challenge for prison authorities.
“In overcrowded prison conditions the likelihood of transmission of anything is going to be higher,” she said.
Ní Chinnéide said she was particularly concerned because Irish prisons don’t have the capacity to keep everyone in single cells – possibly making attempts to contain the spread of Covid-19 difficult.
As of January, 47% of Irish prisoners were in shared cells.
“How they’re going to contain an outbreak is a real concern, because they don’t even have the capacity to keep everyone in single cells,” she said.
Ní Chinnéide stressed that as most prisons are environments where there are a lot of elderly people and individuals with poor health generally, prisoners could be particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.
She referred to the phenomenon of “accelerating ageing” in prison populations, where people older than 55 are often seen as “elderly”.
In practice, that means that an inmate in their 50s might have the physical appearance and health issues of someone at least 10 years older.
Generally too, prisoner populations often have poor health and underlying conditions – with many inmates coming from poorer backgrounds and having experiences of addiction and homelessness.
This means that prisoners could be especially vulnerable to Covid-19, especially in an environment where there is a movement of staff, visitors and other individuals in and out of the prison.
Infectious diseases often spread easier in prisons, with Hepatitis C, HIV and tuberculosis all posing a significant risk to inmates.
In 2014, a World Health Organisation report on prisons globally pointed to overcrowding, delays in diagnosis and a limited access to soap and water contributing to a greater risk of infection among prisoners.
A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said that it is “currently developing contingency plans specifically for the management of Covid-19″.
These plans are still being compiled, with preparations under way since early February.
The spokesperson said that the prison service “has worked closely and continues to work closely with the HSE”.
The plans, they said, would be in line with “best international practice”.
Ultimate responsibility for the healthcare of patients in Irish prisons lies with the Irish Prison Service, not the HSE.
The HSE has a limited role in healthcare provision in Irish prisons, with the vast majority of services provided by the Irish Prison Service.
The healthcare of prisoners has come in for repeated criticism in the last decade. In 2014, a Council of Europe report found that “doctors working in prisons appeared disconnected from the national healthcare service and prison health-care did not receive the necessary management support”.
Another report in 2017 criticised “deficiencies” in the healthcare facilities on offer to prisoners.
The report, compiled by then-prisons inspector Judge Michael Reilly, called for the HSE to take charge of prisoner healthcare.
Healthcare in prisons, he said, “seems to operate on an ad hoc basis with no special regard for the needs of the different cohorts of prisoners in the individual prisons”.
Our colleagues at Noteworthy want to expose the reality of the Irish prison system, including overcrowding, attacks and access to medical treatment. Read more about the proposal, and how you can support it, here.
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The plans look impressive and it’s good news for Dún Laoighaire in particular but why did they attach the “this will make Dublin the new Copenhagen” tag, it automatically cheapens the plans and makes them look like a rip-off, like we’re trying to imitate instead of innovate. The media constantly do this in Ireland like the branding of the Grand Canal Dock area as Silicon Dock, will they ever have minds of their own.
You’re right, it’s sad. It’s like we haven’t initiative or determination to pursue ideas or policy out of mere belief and conviction. We seem to just follow.
Sin fíor. Ag déanamh cóipeáil i gcónaí. Ach ní nach ionadh agus ár dteanga féin caite ar leataobh.
Took the words out of my mouth fiachra. Its called collective inferiority complex. Irish media absolute tosh.
New Copenhagen? Is Copenhagen filled with junkie zombies? For this plan to work they need to get rid of that bloody methedrone clinic in dun laoghaire centre
And send them out onto the streets instead to bother the tourists?
Nope, have a clinic, just don’t have it right in the middle of the town centre
Well done Darren, you are today’s muppet for bringing junkies into a totally unrelated article. There is always one.
Well, they (the drug addicts) are currently bothering the locals. Have heard of dozens of experiences of people being accosted by drug addicts in Dún Laoghaire. The council have located outhouse facilities at either ends of the town and the clinic is in the centre of the town, in Patrick’s Street. The Main Street is full of vacant shops – over 50 vacant shop sites! Please don’t bring in tourists to see our shame! Send them to Dublin City.
George, you’re right, we shouldn’t inflict tourists and their money on your hard-pressed town. Let’s find somewhere else that will appreciate the business.
Correct! My concern is for Ireland and not just my patch! Something that those in politics should consider.
Good news for Southside hookers I guess
All the Charity Shops and €uro Stores on George’s Street in Dún Laoghaire must be jumping for joy!
The guy with the mad Viking touring bus will have to expand his fleet .
That’s good news for Ireland lets hope it happens
Good luck to them.
Liverpool has about 60 cruise ships a year now – after considerable investment in the dock area.
Helpfully (for them), this is very close to the city centre – with new retail outlets and a major new maritime museum.
A market for cruise ships exists – but requires an infrastructure and investment.
Many of the new massive ships would not be able to berth in Dublin Port.
Dublin port €200 million expansion plans.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/dublin-port-unveils-plan-for-expansion-1.1956047
They should build something that would make dublin ‘the new bangkok’. That would be way better.
Similar facility in Belfast as well Keith. Was upgraded in 2013.
This year Belfast will cater for 54 cruise liners. A serious amount of traffic.
90 cruise ships used Dublin port in 2014.
Traffic and parking in and out of the area needs to be fixed first.
People stopping by on a cruise won’t be bringing cars with them.
Most idiotic post of the week?
True. But it’s bound to have a knock on effect. People visiting the visitors, deliveries of flakes to teddies etc ;)
They’ll still have the same number of flake deliveries, there’ll just be extra boxes of flakes in the van. Next.
I’m not sensing enough of a “Can do” attitude from you Dunlaoghaireans today.
Perhaps because you’ve bored us to death with your witty contributions, Neal. All the fun is gone out of it. C’mon da Borough all the same.
The people and the local business community have been beaten down time and time again by an inept county council. Dundrum is the new Dún Laoghaire!
It’s the same council isn’t it
It is, but Dún Laoghaire -Rathdowne Council have completely ignored the concerns of the business community in Dún Laoghaire and the town is dying as a result. Excessive rates have left more empty units on the Main St than occupied ones. Parking controls are ruthlessly enforced. I got a ticket in the time I went to a shop to get change for parking machine (20 metres away). Yet, they manage to hold on to over 150 free car parking spaces for council workers. Streets are filthy. Roadside hedging and trees left to grow wild. My car is ruined by scratches. A bloody disgrace. Roll on the elections!!!
I thought that too initially. Apparently there will be 40 – 80 buses needed per ship and 35 people for traffic management!
First things first that image above is not to scale these ships will dwarf the harbour and look even worse than the monstrosity that is the new library.
Irish Lights have conducted many studies of the harbour bed and a considerable area is covered in granite. Dredging cost numbers will be almost double the cost estimated and Dublin Port will be gaining from the anchoring dues meaning some basic calculations would indicate that it will take + 100 yrs. to recover the construction cost.
As stated in the article it will be in direct competition with the Dublin port proposal which is in a far better position to handle the scale of an operation like this.
Recent cruise ship trends have indicated that passenger numbers who leave the ship during in port visits have dropped and many of those who do only partake in the bus tours meaning the benefit to Dun Laoighaire town itself may be nowhere near what the planners are estimating.
This will also destroy the harbour as one of the the major centres for youth sailing training on the island of Ireland. This proposal will have a detrimental if not fatal effect on this activity. Also International Sailing events will not come to Dun Laoghaire. Tourism Ireland will not be happy.
Also consider that Venice is looking into to banning all big cruise liners because they are causing untold damage to the fabric of the city. The income from these liners is valued at 10c per passenger.
In short not nearly as glamorous or as beneficial as the planners and harbour company would have you think
Ya tourism Ireland be absolutely disgusted, nothing they hate more.
Is sailing your bag then?
I love how people focus on the sailing part of that. So what if I do sail? Still doesn’t make any of the other facts and less real
During construction of the new library I thought it was a mistake. But the finished building looks great. I like it. The seafront looks good now. They need to concentrate on the high street and that ugly shopping centre.
Mike the library looks brutal particularly from the people’s park side
Sorry Ian but you’re wrong in so many ways. Here in Cobh we get a lot of cruise liners, the town fills with people and shoppers when the ships arrive, the harbour as an amenity for sailing etc is not hampered and loads of new businesses have developed around the liners. We are due to get 54 liners this summer.
I don’t where you are coming from in terms of dredging. Dredging here is a 3 month contract repeated every 2 years I would assume similar arrangements in Dublin area.
Dun Laoghaire has come along great over the past 5 years. I love go go there for a walk and for lunch. The whole town will benefit and develop further with a proper cruise berth. It could really bring Dun Laoghaire back to its hey day
@keaneland, as I said this is coming from Irish Lights, who if you don’t know manage all the navigation marks and lightouses around Ireland, they made a detailed survey of Dun Laoighaire as it is their base of operations and they berth their ships there so they have an interest in the dredging required and according to their reports there is a considerable amount of granite where dredging is required which will likely double the time and cost that the planners have estimated dredging will take as there is no mention of the granite in their proposal. Cobh can avail of simple dredging every few years as it is just silt and moving deposits that need to be cleared not solid granite. Once the granite is cleared in Dun Laoighaire it will be a quick operation to clean it up when needed but the granite has not been taken into account for the initial dredging in the proposals presented publicly.
Will it be like Ryanair airports? You book your cruise to visit Dublin but you actually dock 8 miles away in Dun laoghaire??
And how close is Dublin Airport to town?
Stuart it’s not called Dublin City airport . As airports go, it’s pretty damn close to the city
My point exactly. Dun Laoghaire is close enough to town with a rail and quality bus link. It doesn’t need to be any closer.
The proposed wharf is 435 Metres long and is largely composed of a series of giant pylons which will transect the harbour. The harbour will be rendered into a hideous mess when there are no ships there which will be at least 66% of the time. The harbour company are basically going to try and build a cheap and cheerful docking pontoon which will destroy the appearance of the harbour. The illustration to this article shows a ship approximately half the size of the 350 metre 22 story giants which we can expect.
I am all in favour of cruise liners and I am glad that Dublin Port plans to extend its cruise line capabilities. I really don’t understand the logic behind bringing visitors to Dublin via Dunlaoghaire.
Still less do I understand why this is so strategic that the normal planning process has to be bypassed. I guess this is so that the local authority won’t have to take the blame for the aesthetic horror that is planned.
Not everyone will want to head to Dublin. Wicklow is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland, and DL is 30 mins closer than Dublin port
I think reasoning in bringing the cruise ships inside the harbour is that the DL Harbour ‘Company’ can get the docking fee. Apparently they are currently in financial difficulty. Currently when the ships dock outside the fee goes to Dublin Port. correct me if i’m wrong! :)
It would make Dublin boring like Copenhagen?
They have cannabis there and expensive drink???
And then they walk up to Georges Street……… Oh dear what a disappointment!!…… Great planning…. Shame the planners can’t see beyond their own nose
If your at the end of the pier when that comes in, you might just get washed away!! Its not that big an entrance.
have you been at the end of the pier? you are protected by a fort on the East pier and a lighthouse with breakwater on the West, also the ships won’t come in at full speed, and the entrance is plenty big enough for that size of vessel.
Wow the 40m euro library looks even more stupid now. Blackrock got a lovely modest revamp of it’s library then took SCD from DL.
Oh I forgot. The new library is a glorified DLRCC HQ.
I think the library looks fabulous. We have some great architects in Ireland, wining awards for buildings abroad. Time we build some of that award winning stuff in Ireland
It would look great in a modern redeveloped area such as the docklands area and I agree some of the vistas are spectacular from it. But you don’t put it 50 yards in front of a centuries old hotel and at a right angle to the lovely sea-side coastline. It looks awful from a distance and certainly wasn’t asked for by the people of Dun Laoghaire.
Is Copenhagen walking with junkies and howyas?
Copenhagen is home to the biggest, most open drug scene in Scandinavia, with up to 8,000 users. Unlike in Ireland they have centres addicts go to.
22 Cruise ships visited Dun Laoghaire last year as far as I know. It did not have much of an impact on local businesses from what shop owners and taxi drivers have told me. Apparently a fleet of buses just whisks people into Dublin city and bypasses Dun Laoghaire. Dublin Port already has a much bigger €200M plan in motion for Cruise ships only a few miles away. Is this €20 – 30M plan for Dun Laoghaire really worth it? why compete with against another state funded project down the road?
The junkies issue is a fair point – lots of places are nice without an expensive port – I’m not saying don’t build it but build it but Dun Laoghaire could climb several notches in the 1-10 scale with some simple changes.
I wouldn’t mind reading your comments, only for that avatar of yours?
What 1-10 scale is this?
Up the borough!
Dun Laoghaire is a great town with stunning architecture all along George’s Street, if you take the time to notice. It’s been through a hard time but the high street will bounce back. It’s lasted a hundred years, it will last a hundred more.
Did Clogherhead refuse this as well lol.
The PD’s (remember them) had one great idea. Move Dublin Port up the coast and develop high rise right out to the sea from the north wall and have cruise ships docking right in the heart of this new city quarter. Manhattans west side used to have a port, was dirty etc and they moved the port down river in NJ and now you have cruise ships only docking with loads of new development such as Husdon yards taking place
I hope those two great bloody granite piers aren’t in the way. I wonder could they be moved closer to Dalkey Island and be of some use?
Why spend taxpayers money when this already happens in Port of Dublin
What has changed since residents of Seapoint Ave voiced their angst about HGV traffic using the innovative HSS, their campaign was bootstrapped as “Dun Lorry” at the time.They succeeded in reducing the complement of HGV’s on the fast ferry to about 8 units.
Now we have experienced up to 80′coaches jamming the small access roads.
Where is the access route proposed to be a relief road for Dun Laoghaire?
Great idea about dredging granite to deepen the channel,there’s mega bucks over cost!
A new pier enclosing Scotsmans Bay will be much cheaper.
Of course I don’t live near Teddy’s ice cream!
Waste of money Dublin been developed.
It will never happen. They ran ships not attract them.
Hi Peter,
Have you ever been to Copenhagen or Dun Laoghaire?
I suggest that it might be a good idea to do so and then either a large bottle of tipex or copious use of the delete button. Just goes to show that journalists should check the veracity of press releases before they publish.
Clearly the writer of the press release has made an idiot if you.
If you dont have the time to go to Copenhagen or dun Laoghaire I suggest that Google Maps and Wikipedia will save a fortune.
All the best in your new job…
Tino Hyland
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