The bakery at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison has been closed because of concerns it is being used as a drugs delivery route by gangland figures.
asserted
it → close → figures
The revelation is contained in internal Irish Prison Service (IPS) files obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).
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revelation → contain → Act
In the past Mountjoy’s bakery has been used as a model for prisons in other jurisdictions such as Hydebank Wood prison for women and young offenders in Belfast.
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bakery → use → Belfast
But according to the FOI documents the bakery, which provides bread to all of Dublin’s prisons, is a known ‘channel for contraband’.
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which → accord → contraband
This description is contained in an October 2024 email written by Mary Leydon, a governor in the Human Resources Directorate at the IPS.
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description → contain → IPS
The email was written as internal negotiations to close the bakery were underway between IPS management and staff.
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negotiations → write → management
In addition to describing the bakery as a source of contraband, Ms Leydon added that the facility has been the subject of ‘H&S [health and safety] concerns over the years’ with ‘serious concerns raised by management.’
In the past Mountjoy’s bakery has been used as a model for prisons in other jurisdictions such as Hydebank Wood prison for women and young offenders in Belfast
‘This was a challenging negotiation process but we believe after years attempting it, we have finally achieved its closure,’ Ms Leydon wrote.
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Leydon → describe → closure
She added that the closure was to be done ‘on phased basis over 12-18 months’ to allow for other prisons to source an alternative provider.
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prisons → add → provider
The decision to close Mountjoy’s bakery was first made public in the Dáil a year later, in November 2025, by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.
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decision → close → O’Callaghan
Mr O’Callaghan did not refer to any specific concerns about contraband though he did refer generally to the ‘enhanced security’ the closure would bring.
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closure → refer → security
Responding to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, Mr O’Callaghan said the cost of providing bread to Dublin’s prisons via Mountjoy’s bakery was €660,000 annually – €110,000 more than it would otherwise cost via a commercial provider.
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it → respond → provider
He added that Mountjoy’s bakery would be replaced with ‘a training facility to deliver certified training in baking skills to people in custody.
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bakery → add → custody
Over the years, several high-profile prisoners have worked within the Mountjoy bakery including convicted boom-time thief, Michael Lynn and the Mr Moonlight murderer, Patrick Quirke.
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prisoners → work → thief
There is no suggestion whatsoever that either were involved in moving contraband through the bakery.
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either → be → bakery
According to prison sources the bakery is considered a sought- after job for inmates.
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bakery → accord → inmates
Situated on the same footprint as the kitchen, just off E division, the goods gate for the bakery is within 30-40 meters of the main gate into Mountjoy.
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gate → situate → Mountjoy
‘The bakery in Mountjoy would have been something that was highly successful back in the day,’ one officer told the MoS.
‘It produced a lot of good bread and a lot of work for prisoners as well.
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It → tell → prisoners
It gave them something useful to be doing.
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It → give → something
’
But the bakery was also known as a weak link that gangs were able to manipulate to get drugs and phones into Mountjoy.
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gangs → know → Mountjoy
‘All the stuff coming in from suppliers is not always checked by dog units and search teams,’ another officer told the MoS.
He added that the loading bay doors for food deliveries to the bakery and kitchen were not always appropriately locked.
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doors → come → bakery
‘If you’re bringing in something – especially a substance such as white flour – it can become very easy to bring in something extra, and that was always the problem with it,’ they said.
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they → bring → it
‘Everybody knew the stuff was coming in via deliveries.
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stuff → know → deliveries
Prisoners had been caught removing drugs from the underside of delivery trucks and so on.
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Prisoners → catch → trucks
The sources told how service lifts in the loading bay and food preparation areas can be used to distribute drugs further into the depths of the prison once they are delivered to the bakery.
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they → tell → bakery
But the bakery was also known as a weak link that gangs were able to manipulate to get drugs and phones into Mountjoy
According to prison sources the bakery is considered a sought- after job for inmates.
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bakery → know → inmates
Situated on the same footprint as the kitchen, just off E division, the goods gate for the bakery is within 30-40 meters of the main gate into Mountjoy
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gate → situate → Mountjoy
The scale of this smuggling can be judged by a successful, intelligence-led operation implemented by the IPS in 2020.
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scale → judge → 2020
In November that year, the largest haul of contraband ever intercepted was found hidden in bags of sugar and sprinkled with coffee to confuse sniffer dogs.
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haul → intercept → dogs
The consignment, hidden as part of a food truck delivery, included drugs, alcohol, phones and SIM cards.
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consignment → hide → drugs
So successful was this smuggling route, that gangs were able to supply contraband to order to individual prisoners.
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gangs → supply → prisoners
This is evident by the manner in which drugs packages were individually wrapped with prisoners’ names on them.
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packages → wrap → them
According to gardaí at the time’ the cocaine had an estimated value of €140,000, the tablets were valued at €20,000, and the cannabis was worth €5,000.
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cannabis → accord → 20,000
Speaking at the time of the seizure, IPS Director General, Caron McCaffrey, said: ‘There were 600 boxes, with each being painstakingly taken off the truck and searched, and it was in the middle of the last pallet of items, that it was detected, in two boxes which purported to be sugar but when those boxes are opened, they contained a very significant amount of contraband.’
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they → speak → contraband
Ms McCaffrey said the drugs could have resulted in deaths among the prisoner population had they made their way into Mountjoy.
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they → say → Mountjoy
‘They certainly result in inter-prisoner violence and it can also result in assaults against our staff, specifically given the content and...
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it → result → content
it undoubtedly would have resulted in very significant overdoses and potentially deaths within the prison population.’
An IPS spokesperson told the MoS: ‘The Irish Prison Service does not comment on security or operational matters’.
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Service → result → matters
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we → accept → article
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