Over 1,200 prisoners waiting for mental health services

There are 1,206 prisoners are waiting for psychology including 398 in Midlands Prison in Portlaoise - the highest in the country.

Over 1,200 prisoners are on the waiting list for psychology services and over 500 are waiting for drug addiction counselling.

The Justice Minister says the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on these services.

There are 1,206 prisoners are waiting for psychology including 398 in Midlands Prison in Portlaoise - the highest in the country.

Wheatfield Prison in Dublin is the next highest at 216 followed by 168 in Mountjoy Prison, also in the capital.

Separately, 531 prisoners are waiting for drug-addiction counselling including 100 in Wheatfield and 94 in Mountjoy.

Former prisoner Garry Cunningham said he had great difficulty in accessing services while in jail.

"It was pretty atrocious to try and obtain any of the counselling services that were deemed to be on offer," said Mr Cunningham.

"I am an alcoholic and I would have thought at the time 'we're in a small building, it's Mountjoy, there are so many prisoners, I should get this this week or maybe next week'. I didn't get it at all in Mountjoy."

Mr Cunningham, who was released in 2014, said there is a lack of state support for these services.

He said that education and mental health services are the vital for those in prison but are the ones that seem to get cut the most.

"We have a reoffending rate that fluctuates between 65% and 75% in the first three years of a man or a woman being released from incarceration.

"If we decimate even more the facilities for mental health then that number is going to steadily increase."

Justice Minister Helen McEntee says there has been a reduction in sessions delivered by psychology and addiction services during the pandemic.

That is due to less one-to-one contact prisoners to keep inmates safe with more telephone and video link appointments.