Saoirse Brady

And coming into the summer as well, I've been in some of those cells, they get really hot.

So you can imagine, you know, you've two, three people to a cell with a toilet in the corner that they all have to use in lockdown in the evening.

And if somebody is detoxing without proper support, then, you know, it's going to make for a very tense and unpleasant situation.

Well, you have to go in and you have to get assessed, you know, so you'll have a medical assessment in the first place.

By a doctor, is it, within the prison service?

So a nurse or a doctor, yeah, on admission to prison.

But then I suppose part of the thing is then where do you refer them on to?

And very often people don't pick up, like there's so many people coming into our prisons, like they mightn't pick up, you know, an underlying addiction if it's not very obvious, if the person isn't intoxicated at the time.

So, you know, you have to build up trust with people as well.

in order for them to admit that they have an addiction, for them to want to maybe deal with that addiction.

And you need to give them the physical supports to do that.

So I suppose that's a process.

Yeah.

Yes, it is.

But Merchants Quay Ireland provide really good therapeutic supports in prison right across the prison estate.

We know that there is like 19 therapists at the moment, but they have a very long, very big caseload and a very long waiting list.

So, you know, and that's dealing with like that's talk therapy.

We're talking about some of the physical issues that people present with, you know, if they're in DTs, if they're detoxing, if they, you know, that can have a huge impact on their mental health as well.

So we really feel that, you know, this government is focused so much on the infrastructure and pouring money into that.

But what we really need to see.