…while Garda fast-food tab for prisoners is €300k

MORE than €300,000 was spent by the State on takeaway meals for prisoners in Garda custody last year, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

But Fianna Fáil justice spokesperson Niall Collins believes those awaiting interrogation should pay for their own meals.

A Garda Síochána spokesperson told the MoS that the type of food purchased is ‘at the behest of the prisoner, and is predominantly from MacDonald’s, chippers, pizzerias and other fast-food outlets.’

Figures obtained by the MoS show that a total of €339,381 was spent by Garda stations across the country in 2018, up from €258,349 in 2017. This is an average of €930 a day last year – up from an average of €708 in 2017.

A small part of the expenditure was on clothing, predominantly from Penneys and other low-cost shops.

If a prisoner’s clothes are seized for forensic testing, legislation entitles them to replacement clothing as well as at least two light meals and one main meal in any 24-hour period.

‘He may have meals supplied at his own expense where it is practicable,’ states the legislation governing prisoners in custody.

In Mr Collins’s Limerick constituency more than €15,000 was spent by the Limerick garda division in 2017. A source said: ‘It is €6 or €7 per meal. The budget is very limited. Nine times out of 10 it ends up being the chip shop. The tea is free.’

Mr Collins has argued that such prisoners should pay out of their own pocket.

‘Why can’t they pay for their own food?’ he asked.

‘If they are being held by gardaí for a lengthy period of time it is normally for alleged serious offences. It just seems that the State picks up the tab for everything.

‘Gardaí don’t get a food allowance when they are working on bank holidays and unsocial hours yet they have to run to the chipper for people they have arrested and the taxpayer pays for it all,’ he added.