The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell has said somebody will have to be held accountable for the smuggling of contraband into prisons.
His comments came after the Irish Prison Service widened its search of the country's maximum security prison as more contraband has been found.
Mr McDowell said there never was any blind eye turned at official level to the practice, and if there was at lower level then somebody has to be held accountable.
A total of 17 mobile phones, three SIM cards, 11 chargers and eight batteries have now been discovered hidden in Portlaoise Prison.
Search teams have also found a large quantity of home-made alcohol, 150 tablets, including ecstasy, 30 syringes and a budgie.
The contraband has been found on D and E wings, where the country's most serious criminals are detained. Officers were searching the prison school and laundry today.
A garda investigation has been launched after the Prison Service made a complaint against John Daly, the inmate who rang RTÉ’s Liveline last week.
Daly has since been transferred to Cork prison.
It is a criminal offence to have a phone in prison, punishable by a sentence of up to five years.
The contraband items were found hidden in landings and cells in toilet U-bends, beds and hollowed-out chairs.
The IPS also says that new walk-through metal detectors and an X-ray scanner are being installed in Portlaoise prison and will be operational this week.
These security systems will be installed in all the country's closed prisons in the next few months.
