Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It might be useful to people who should not have it.

Section 20 provides that on receipt of the environmental impact assessment and the visual representation of the development, the Minister shall give notice of the proposed development to the planning authorities in the relevant area. Members of the public shall be informed of the development by means of placing a notice on the site and in a national and local newspaper. Furthermore, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government shall be informed, as shall the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if the development is adjacent to the foreshore, and the relevant authority in another country if the development is likely to have significant adverse effects on that country's environment. That is required by European law but is unlikely to affect an Irish prison.

Following an amendment tabled in the Seanad, I have now also provided in this section for a copy of the notice to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Section 21 lays out what must be contained in the notices I have just referred to and section 22 provides that the environmental impact assessment and the visual representation must be made available to any interested party in written form or electronically. Under section 23 the Minister shall appoint a rapporteur to receive submissions relating to the proposed development and the rapporteur shall prepare a report which shall summarise the submissions received and identify the main issues raised. It is not intended that the rapporteur would evaluate the submissions or make recommendations to the Minister. The report of the rapporteur shall also be published.

Section 24 deals with a situation where the Minister, on foot of the rapporteur's report, decides to alter the proposed development. In this case the Minister shall cause an amended description of the development to be prepared, as well as a supplementary environmental impact assessment and an amended visual representation of the exterior, if material alterations are made to the exterior. The persons and bodies specified in section 20 shall be notified of any proposed alteration. Again, submissions may be made in relation to the revised proposal and submitted to the rapporteur, who shall prepare a supplementary report on the basis of the submissions received and this report shall also be published.

Section 25 provides that the Minister, having considered the EIA, the rapporteur's report and any supplementary EIA and report, may make further alterations to the development and may proceed or decide not to do so. Under section 26, if the Minister decides to proceed with the development, he shall move a draft resolution approving the development in both Houses of the Oireachtas. This resolution must contain a description of the development, a statement that an EIA, and supplementary EIA, where applicable, has been prepared, the measures taken to invite observations from the public, the main measures taken to avoid, reduce or offset any significant adverse effects and a drawing or visual representation of the exterior. The resolution must also specify any conditions with which the developer must comply. Before moving the resolution, documents must be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, including a statement of the location, purpose and size of the proposed development, its land-use requirements during construction and operation and any estimated residues or emissions. The EIA, and any supplementary EIA, a visual representation of the exterior and the rapporteur's report and supplementary report, if applicable, must also be laid before the Houses. If the draft resolution is approved and confirmed by an Act of the Oireachtas the Minister may proceed with the development. The Act intended here is a very brief confirmatory Act, perhaps of only one or two sections. A good example of such an Act is the restrictive practices regime which existed in the past. Restrictive practices Acts prescribed reports by examiners and the like. The examiner's report was frequently published, the Minister published a draft order to implement the examiner's report and it did not have effect until a short two section Bill confirming it was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas to give it the effect of law.

Section 27 provides that any questioning of an act done under this Part must be by way of an application to the High Court. Section 28 deals with exemptions relating to the development in terms of planning permission and requirements set out in other legislation. This section also provides that if a national monument is found on the site, no further work may be undertaken, except to preserve the monument, without direction from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in consultation with the Director of the National Museum. Section 29 prohibits the disclosure of any information concerning design or construction which is likely to prejudice the security of a new or extended prison.

Part 5, encompassing sections 30, 31 and 32, provides for the establishment of an office of inspector of prisons on a statutory basis. This is also new. Section 30 provides that the Minister may appoint an inspector of prisons, who shall hold office on terms determined by the Minister in consultation with the Minister for Finance. The inspector may at any time resign from office or be removed by the Minister for stated reasons. An appointment shall be for a term of not longer than five years and the inspector is independent in the performance of his or her functions. Section 31 lays out the duties of the inspector of prisons. He or she shall carry out regular inspections of prisons, may enter any part of a prison at any time, obtain copies of any records kept there and report to the Director General of the Prison Service or the Minister as appropriate with regard to any issues of concern. The inspector may, and shall if requested by the Minister, investigate any matter relating to the management or operation of a prison and shall submit a report to the Minister on such an investigation, which shall be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable. The section further provides that the Minister may omit matters from the report if disclosure would be prejudicial to the security of the prison or the State and may also omit matters from the report, after consultation with the Secretary General to the Government, if disclosure of such matters would be contrary to the public interest or would infringe the constitutional rights of any person. The section goes on to clarify that it is not the inspector's role to investigate complaints from individual prisoners although, following my acceptance of an amendment in the Seanad, he or she shall now have the power to investigate the circumstances surrounding a complaint by a prisoner. Any request from the inspector for information must be complied with by prison staff in so far as is reasonably practicable. Section 32 provides for the inspector of prisons to submit an annual report to the Minister on any prison inspected in the year in question. The report shall deal with the general management of the prison, the general health and welfare of the prisoners, the general conduct of staff, compliance with set standards, facilities available, security and discipline. Each report shall be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable and shall be published.

Part 6 of the Bill contains a range of miscellaneous provisions. Section 33 deals with the hearing of applications to court by means of videolink. This featured in section 11 of the 2005 Bill. However, following receipt of the final report of the committee on video conferencing, chaired by Mrs. Justice Susan Denham, the range of circumstances in which video conferencing might best be used without the accused being physically present in the court has been expanded from the limit of pretrial hearings provided for in the 2005 Bill to the range of non-trial hearings specified in subsection (11).

Section 33 applies to the applications to court where the accused or person convicted is in prison, where the application is being made by either the DPP or a prisoner and where the prisoner is legally represented or has obtained or been given the opportunity to obtain legal advice. In these circumstances, the application may be heard without the prisoner being present — that is, by video link — if the court is satisfied that the use of video link would not be unfair to the prisoner, if the interests of justice do not require the prisoner's presence at the hearing and if the video link facilities allow the prisoner to participate in the hearing, allow the court to see and hear the prisoner and allow the prisoner to consult privately with his or her legal representative during the hearing. When the court is making the decision as to whether the application to court may be heard by way of video link, it must have regard to the nature of the application, how complex the hearing is likely to be, and the prisoner's age and mental and physical capacity. An application for the hearing to be heard by means of video link may be made either by or on behalf of the prisoner or the DPP, and if the application is refused, the court must state its reasons for that decision. A direction under this section may be revoked at any time, whether on application or not.

Section 34 applies the provisions of section 33 to children in remand centres or detention schools and following the tabling of amendments in the Seanad, I have now also provided for this section to apply to a designated centre within the meaning of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 when the Minister for Health and Children, following consultation with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, so directs.

Section 35 deals with the making of prison rules by the Minister. It builds on the power to make such rules provided for in section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997. In addition to the range of issues provided for in the 1997 Act, provision is also made here for testing prisoners for intoxicants, including alcohol and drugs, and for the publication of decisions of an appeal tribunal in respect of forfeiture of remission of portion of sentence.

The existing prison rules date back to 1947. I published comprehensive new draft prison rules in June 2005, which are on my Department's website. The intention in publishing draft prison rules was to give people an opportunity to submit observations on them. One issue that has been raised is that the rules relating to prison discipline in particular should have a strong grounding in primary legislation. As Members can see, I have taken that view on board. As soon as this Bill is enacted, it is my intention to sign the draft rules, with some amendments, into law.

Section 36 amends the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to ensure that payment of the minimum wage is not applicable to prisoners undertaking non-commercial work within a prison, including cleaning, training or work experience and charity work. There is a practice within prison regimes to give what amounts to pocket money to prisoners who carry out certain tasks within the prison system, rather than to leave them completely without remuneration. Surprisingly, the issue arose that this might in some way constitute an infringement of the National Minimum Wage Act. It is not meant to be regular employment and prisoners who engage in work for pocket money within prisons are not being exploited. Therefore, in these circumstances, it is appropriate that the Act should not apply.

Section 37 deals with payment by prisoners for requested services and provides that provision may be made for payment for special goods and services including telephone calls, private medical treatment and escorts outside the prisons for matters that are not generally available without charge to prisoners. I envisaged instances whereby a prisoner who decides to undergo extensive cosmetic dental work or something similar can be accommodated through the system although ordinarily it would not be the entitlement of the prisoner to have this done as part of the prison's dental service. There are other, similar instances. A prisoner who wants to telephone Hong Kong for a particular reason can pay for the privilege. The taxpayer is not obliged to state either that it will be done for free or that it cannot be done at all. However, any charges levied may not exceed the cost of the provision of the goods or services.

Section 38 provides for absences from prison on certain grounds. Under this section, the Minister may order that a prisoner be taken to a specified person or place for a specified purpose and time and be returned to the prison thereafter. Such leave may be granted on compassionate grounds, to assess or facilitate a prisoner's re-integration into society or for the purpose of assistance in the investigation of an offence. If, during that period, the prisoner is not of good behaviour or causes a breach of the peace or attempts to escape, he or she shall be returned to prison immediately. Section 39 provides that a prisoner in the custody of a garda, a prison officer or a prisoner custody officer is thereby in lawful custody.

Section 40 contains technical provisions and amends references to Prisons Acts in various enactments to also include this Act. The definition of prison officer is also amended in certain legislation to ensure the definition encompasses prisoner custody officers. Section 41 of the Bill will repeal certain provisions in other legislation, including a provision relating to visiting committees, as some functions of visiting committees will now be encompassed by the appeal tribunals.

The repeal of section 1(2) of the Prisons Act 1933, previously provided for in section 8 of the 2005 Act, has the effect of providing a statutory power on the Minister to enable Mountjoy Prison to be closed. The previous legislation enacted in 1933 stated that the Minister could, by regulation, close any prison with the exception of Mountjoy. This must be amended to facilitate Mountjoy's replacement. Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1997 is also being repealed. This section dealt with the making of prison rules, which is now being restated, with additions, in the current Bill. Section 42 is a standard regulation-making provision.

This Bill continues the programme of prison reform that I commenced. The Government is changing how prisons are run, work practices within them, their locations, and, very importantly, what is achieved by sending people to prison. While I have stated previously that imprisonment should be seen as a last option, it remains a necessary one. This is true in all societies which provide for the rule of law. However, there is no reason for prisons and prison practices not to be of the highest standard. Since my appointment as Minister, it has been most depressing to see some of the institutions. While the staff work hard and the prisoners themselves do their best to make their own circumstances humane, we have done little to live up to our obligation to the entire principle of education and rehabilitation within the prison system.

While prisons must be secure, they should also be modern places that do not dehumanise prisoners. The building of a new prison at the Thornton Hall site and, hopefully, in north Cork will be a major step in this regard. I look forward to hearing Members' comments on the Bill and to a more detailed debate on Committee Stage and I commend the Bill to the House.

See this speech in context