Gardai are continuing to search for a convicted criminal who stabbed two prison officers yesterday and escaped from custody while on a visit to Tallaght Hospital.

Derek Brockwell had been taken to the hospital for a routine appointment from Portlaoise Prison where he is serving a 7 year sentence for a string of robberies in Dublin.

He attacked the two officers accompanying him with a knife and left the scene on a waiting motorbike driven by another man.

Brockwell came here in 2012 after absconding from a sentence of 22 life terms in England.

His escape has prompted Fianna Fail to call for minimum mandatory sentences for those convicted of assaulting members of the prison service.

Fianna Fail's Justice Spokesman Niall Collins says frontline workers need new legislation to protect them from violent attacks...