All in-person visits to prisons in Ireland have been temporarily suspended for a two-week period.
From Monday, family members will be unable to physically visit due to the widespread community transmission of Covid-19.
All visits between the dates of January 10th to January 24th have been cancelled, the Irish Prison Service said, although video visits will continue to operate as normal, with prisoners entitled to one video visit per week.
“The Irish Prison Service is aware of the importance of visits to prisoners and their families, however, due to the widespread community transmission of Covid-19 and in line with the Prison Rules... the Irish Prison Service will be suspending all physical (family) visits to prisons for a period of 14 days from Monday 10th January,” it said in a statement.
“Any person who at this stage has booked a visit should note that they will not be facilitated with access to the prison and no further bookings will be available at this time.
“This restriction will be reviewed in advance of the expiry of the 14-day suspension period, with any extension (or removal) of those restrictions being based on infection control advice at the time.”
The prison service said professional visits by legal advisors will, where possible, be conducted virtually but a physical visit may be facilitated.
Physical visits requested on compassionate grounds by family members will be considered on a case-by-case basis but will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, it added.
