Portlaoise Prison: Ten in hospital after suspected overdoses
Eleven prisoners are being monitored in hospital after suspected overdoses at Portlaoise Prison.
Ten of the prisoners were brought to the Midlands Regional Hospital, County Laois, on Tuesday afternoon and one of them was brought to the hospital later that night.
On Wednesday morning, BBC News NI was told that three prisoners were in ICU and the remaining eight prisoners were described as being in a stable condition.
The Irish Prison Service (IPS) said it is working closely with the Health Service Executive (HSE).
This comes just weeks after the IPS issued an urgent drug alert to all prisons in July following a detection of the drug nitazene, which resulted in a fatal overdose.
The substance involved in the suspected overdoses has been sent for analysis.
In a statement today, the IPS said it had secured extra naloxone kits.
"Extra vigilance is being taken across the prison estate" and the IPS said it had commenced an "information campaign for prisoners around the dangers of consuming contraband".
The prison service has also "increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis".
The IPS said their canine unit carries out searches around the prisons and has "a greater focus on searching deliveries into prisons".
An Garda Síochána and the IPS engage to prevent contraband entering prisons.
The IPS said the sharing of intelligence has led to targeted searches which resulted in the seizure of contraband.
