Prison bosses urged to kick football spend to touch

Prison bosses have been urged to end the “limitless” supply of footballs to prisoners after figures show more than €40,000 is spent every year on new balls.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal footballs are constantly punctured by being kicked against razor security wire in recreation yards.

Official figures show more than €127,000 has been spent on buying in the region of 51,000 footballs in the past three years.

Cloverhill, Cork, and Limerick prisons topped the list, spending almost €55,000 between them in the last two years. This accounted for two-thirds of the total bill.

The secretary general of the Department of Justice was so alarmed by the cost that he contacted the Prison Service last year “urgently” requesting information on the matter and asking why the coast was “so high”.

The Prison Service told the Irish Examiner that the costs “seem high” but pointed out there were 60 exercise yards in the prison system catering for more than 4,000 prisoners.

“For obvious reasons, security measures are required around the perimeter of our prisons and exercise yards, such as razor wire, barbed wire, etc,” the spokesman said. “The footballs used in our prisons are made of light plastic to minimise the potential for injuries to staff and prisoners, which makes them more susceptible to damage.”

He said erecting football nets under razor wires was not feasible “from a security or safety point of view”.

Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil justice spokesman said: “It is an extraordinary amount of money spent on footballs, when you consider cuts to carers and home help hours. How many hours of home help would €40,000 buy? It should be considered in that context and in that context it is excessive and a waste of money.”

He said prisons should have set budgets per year for footballs: “They should be provided with a set number of footballs, told you have X amount, if you burst them all, you’ll have to kick tennis balls around.”

He called on the Prison Service to examine the feasibility of installing nets below security wires, if only in Limerick, Cork, and Cloverhill jails.