Drugs, phones, alcohol and weapons were all seized in jail cells last year according to the Irish Prison Service.

600 mobile phones, 500 weapons and 800 batches of drugs were found during searches.

There were also around 600 litres of home-made alcohol confiscated.

The figures which have been released under the Freedom of Information Act, appear in today’s Irish Times.

The highest number of phones were seized in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, while drugs and weapons seizures were most common at Wheatfield Prison.