A Warning from Portlaoise
“Please forward this to the minister.” Those six words open a letter dated 8 April 2022, addressed to Eileen B. Walsh at the Department of Justice.
The author of that letter — identified as “C” in the archived account — described concerns about food stocks, suspected heroin smuggling, unsecured knives and the safety of the author and his wife. This page presents the existing account alongside material submitted for the Gavin Bailey website; the author’s identity and the relationship between those accounts should be verified before publication.
A request for ministerial attention
On Friday, 8 April 2022, a Portlaoise Prison Assistant Chief Officer wrote to the Department of Justice. The letter asked that the account be brought to the attention of the then Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee.
The letter began with an allegation about approximately €10,000 worth of Knorr Demi-Glace stock. C alleged that Governor Eddie Mullins had used the stock for banqueting at golf clubs and GAA functions rather than for prisoners’ meals. C credited prison officer Noel McGee with refusing an instruction to load stock onto delivery trucks.
Inventories are seldom anybody’s favourite occupation. Yet when something later proves to be missing, the person who signed for it is usually the first asked to explain. C says C was instructed to take over stock without a closing stocktake — and refused. The allegation about where the stock went calls for an answer from those responsible for it and from the records that should account for it.
Four matters that demand records, not silence
Approximately €10,000 in Demi-Glace stock was allegedly diverted from its intended prison use. Stock sheets, issue records and transport logs should resolve what happened.
C says a confidential report was shared with a manager implicated in a separate contraband allegation, and that suspected heroin was handled in view of prisoners.
Eighteen knives were reportedly found unsecured and unregistered in the ACO Catering Office in E Block. C’s letter also refers to a knife said to be missing.
After the disclosure, masked men allegedly came looking for C and a shotgun cartridge was reportedly left at C’s home. C feared that C or C’s wife might be attacked.
From disclosure to silence
8 APR 2022 — C writes to Eileen B. Walsh at the Department of Justice, requesting that the letter be forwarded to the minister.
APR 2022 — The Irish Times later reported a seizure of 31 grammes of heroin and hundreds of tablets hidden in a trolley carrying kitchen supplies.
JUN 2022 — The Irish Times reported prison management was examining claims the kitchen had been used to move drugs and other contraband.
AFTER DISCLOSURE — C says masked men came looking for C, and a shotgun cartridge was left at C’s home. Gardaí reportedly took fingerprints for elimination purposes.
FOUR YEARS ON — C says no substantive answer had been received about the letter, reported threat, cartridge or outcome of any investigation.
The institutions hold the records
- Did the Department of Justice receive the letter, and was it forwarded to the minister as requested?
- Who assessed the disclosures and the reported risk to C and C’s wife?
- What do the stocktake, catering and delivery records show about the food stock?
- Who received C’s confidential report, who later saw it, and for what stated purpose?
- What do the drug-seizure, kitchen-key, knife-register and incident records establish?
- Was the reported threat investigated, was the cartridge examined, and what was the outcome?
- Was a prisoner transferred following threats connected with the alleged heroin trade, and what reason was recorded?