Inmates at Irish prisons are paid almost €3.5 million a year, irrespective of whether they work or participate in education, and there has been a call for an urgent review of this procedure to save the taxpayer money.

Each prisoner receives a daily gratuity of €2.35 under the Prisons Act 2007. The money is paid into an account for each inmate, who can access it with the governor's approval or request that it be paid to members of their family.

Fine Gael justice spokes­man Charlie Flanagan said he did not disagree in principle with the gratuity but said it should be reviewed as not all inmates should automatically be entitled to it.

"The blanket payment as a right should be reviewed. Any allowance to prisoners should be earned, I believe, in some way. Those inmates who work in prison or are involved in education or training should be rewarded. But it should be a privilege, not a right," he said."

Flanagan said he intends to raise the issue with the minister as some inmates clearly remain involved in crime during their incarceration and should not receive a daily stipend from the taxpayer.

A spokesman for the prison service said not all prisoners receive the same daily payment but all receive a minimum of €2.35.

"Different levels of gratuity may be fixed for different prisons, different classes of prisoners and different levels of engagement in authorised activities," the prison service said in a statement.

While prisoners can access the money with permission from the governor, they cannot transfer the money from their account to another inmate's.