The Prison Service has been strongly criticised in a visiting committee report for forcing women prisoners to strip naked to be searched for drugs in the presence of male prison officers.
The 2010 report also highlights the case of a woman whose human rights were violated after she was forcibly removed from the prison, as well as other instances where female prisoners were denied toothbrushes and clean underwear.
The report is one of 14 published by the Department of Justice today that highlight serious and ongoing problems with drugs, smuggling, overcrowding and gang violence in the country's jails.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter accepted that improvements need to be made, but the building of new prisons at Thornton Hall in Dublin and Kilworth in Cork have been postponed.
The visiting committee report on the Dóchas Centre details a litany of problems that persist throughout the prison system - overcrowding, denial of access to education, smuggling, drugs, violence and people with psychiatric problems locked in prison cells when they should be in hospital.
However, the report on the women's prison also outlines unique incidents at the women's prison at Mountjoy.
It says in May of last year a woman was forcibly removed from the prison in circumstances that violated her human rights. The prisoner, who had psychiatric problems, was due for release.
She had nowhere to go and did not want to leave but was thrown out on to the North Circular Road. She immediately committed a crime to get back in, but the Prison Service sent her to Limerick.
The visiting committee said it informed the minister of this and a second incident, but its letters have not been answered.
The second incident last year is where women prisoners were brought to the gym and ordered to remove all their clothes for a drugs search in the presence of male officers.
The report says a small number of towels were passed around, but that a number of the women were not adequately covered as they stood waiting for an internal search. The report calls it unnecessary humiliation.
The Dóchas Visiting Committee says there has been a distinct shift from the ethos on which the success of Dóchas was built - that was one of treating women with dignity, respect and humanity.
It says censorship has meant women inmates were denied access to fresh underwear and toothbrushes, which it says is wholly unacceptable.
It also says there is now a greatly deteriorated prison environment.
Penal Reform Trust calls for investigation
The Irish Penal Reform Trust has called for an investigation into an incident detailed in the report which says women prisoners were forced to strip naked to be searched for drugs in the presence of male prison officers.
This evening, Minister Shatter said he was advised that no male officers were present during the search.
Mr Shatter also said that strip searches were necessary because of the drugs problem in the country's prisons.
The trust said that its inquiries have already been carried out into this and other incidents at the women's prison.
