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MORE SNIFFER DOGS are being trained to search out drugs and other contraband in Irish jails.
As it stand there are only four active dogs and 24 additional dogs in operation.
However, by the end of this year there will be 46 operation sniffer dogs is the Irish prison system.
The Prison Officers Association conference in Dromoland this week heard that drugs are still a huge issue in Irish prisons.
President of the association Stephen Delaney said, “We now have drugs in all our prisons and the main beneficiaries are the gang leaders who continue to profit – despite being behind bars”
Yesterday, prisoner Douglas Ward was found dead in his cell in Mountjoy prison after a suspected drug overdose.
Speaking at the annual conference, Director General of the Irish Prison Service Michael Donnellan, said a new confidential drug tip-off helpline is also being introduced:
“We’re launching the confidential helpline at the end of the month. On the garda side they have worked extremely well and we’ve been working with them over the last number of months to get advice about what is the best one.
We have a lot of pressure put on people, visitors, family members to bring in drugs and this we hope will allow us to get intelligence that we will simply add to what we already know.
“The passive and active dogs are going to be right up to speed on that – we’ve got a number of dogs in training at the moment adding to our compliment, and we are also examining the whole idea of the therapeutic community and the drug addiction.
“We also then in the last three or four months have had a number of what we call whole prison targeted searches where we go in unannounced to search a landing or three landings for illicit drugs or weapons.”
However Delaney said, “We have no confidence in the introduction of a confidential helpline as proposed by the IPS.
A confidential help line will only allow the gangs to subvert proper procedures by setting up some unwitting fool coming in as a decoy while some other method is employed to get drugs into prisons.
“Our main issue is safety, safety of our members and the prison population – and if we don’t get control of the gangs and the drugs in our prisons – the very serious safety issues will not be resolved”
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Great idea we’ll done An Post
Bravo An Post!
Great idea, well done AnPost
It is a move that is needed, but it shows how bad are things that we are now changing the system to facilitate the homeless… No sign of it ending any time soon then….
@MickN: well as FG would tell ya… sher it’s only normal
@MickN: stop complaining it’s a great idea
@John Murt: He’s not complaining about the idea. He’s complaining about the reason it’s now necessary and he’s absolutely right to complain about that. Stop telling people not to complain about things that warrant it.
@MickN: How are they in any way “changing the system” ? It’s An Post providing free of charge to homeless people an already available service called a PO. Box. Cost is minimal to An Post and it’s good PR, but still, fair play to them.
Well done An Post
Another superb innovation by a company to be proud of
Good idea but shame on our useless govs who’d rather see problems normalized instead of fixing them.
@Adrian: We’re not the only country in the world with a homeless crisis nor even close to the worst for it, if there was an easy solution then that wouldn’t be the case.
Plus even during times of the lowest ever homeless numbers, there’s always some people homeless such as those with addictions etc. This is a great idea for a great service but I guess there will always be mindless complaining from some.
@Shane Corry: What a mindless comment. Our situation got to this because our government stopped building affordable housing. Did you not know that?
@Shane Corry: we’re also probably among the least densely populated of all these countries but just because all the other countries have a homeless problem shouldn’t be used as an excuse for our own govs failings. Also what about the 10s of thousands of misplaced and hidden homeless which our useless idiotic politicians like to pretend don’t exist. The sooner this country is rid of these FFG idiot gombeen parties and their joke of a shower of politicians the better.
Great Service. Well done to An Post.
Good on ya…now that’s service
Great idea, but this has been used in many countries for decades now, called post restante
@DJ François: I used it traveling Australia in the 80’s
@DJ François: very different service…you can get mail sent there but not use it as official address for banks and govt depts etc
@DJ François: very different service, post restante is addressed to the post office (An Post have run this for years) while Addresspoint patrons will be given an actual address that will be indistinguishable from a standard real address. Thus removing the stigma of being homeless when applying for work etc
Fantastic idea ,well done an post.
Really cool
Great.. Can we please retitle this article to any of the following “Government plan to use An Post as address service for homeless in dramatic move to be able to call all those who avail no longer homeless but move them off the register.” too long winded? “An post fix enables government to solve embarassing homeless numbers” or maybe “here is the latest sugary news on homelessness aimed to condition you the reader to believe this is normal and inevitable in society,” or “today’s Liberal feel good news on how we treat our fellow humans. (so you can stay comfortably numb and not get angry at those elected to serve all the people}.. A postal address is already provided by Simon and other charities trying to fill the hole left by callous lack of respect for other humans that is the hallmark of Irish state.
@PhoTangoIrl:No offence Pho but would you stop many post offices & one Simon community spread in just a few locations..It’s a great idea.
I don’t think article needs to be retitled at all.
@Aidan Dorney: my point is not against the idea, it is against the messaging. We are not doing enough as a nation
Yes radical thinking by An post. Link it up with Phone & email notifications &
the job’s oxo.
Fantastic and novel idea Let’s hope that Govt Departments are prevented from reducing the homeless figures on the back
of this initiative. Out of the box thinking
by some clever person at An Post. Well done !
Fantastic idea! Innovative, practical and so enabling. Well done.
Yup normalise this whole fiasco, big business now it is…
A case of swings and roundabouts I reckon…Gov trying to reduce the actual homeless figures…Need an address to access social welfare entitlements, then this gives you an address…BUT if you’ve got an address then YOU ARE NO LONGER HOMELESS!!
Fantastic and novel idea Let’s hope that Govt Departments are prevented from reducing the homeless figures on the back
of this initiative. Out of the box thinking
by some clever person at a An Post. Well done !
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