For the first time in the history of the State, staff from the Defence Forces have been sent into the country's prisons due to an industrial relations dispute.
The Prison Service has said it is bringing in the doctors to treat inmates at the country's prisons because prison doctors have been refusing to work in jails for just over two weeks.
The Prison Service says there are 1,500 inmates waiting to see a doctor, 50 need detox for drug and alcohol conditions and three women at the Dóchas Centre are in urgent need of psychiatric treatment.
A spokesman for the service said it was left with no option but to seek the assistance of the Defence Forces because of the current crisis which he said was putting inmates' lives at risk.
