Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will amend the rules governing remission of prison sentences to provide that those convicted of serious sexual offences will only qualify if they have satisfactorily completed a course of treatment during their sentence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42994/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The granting of sentence remission is a feature of many prison systems worldwide and has been a feature of the Irish criminal justice system since the foundation of the State. Our Courts are aware of the statutory entitlement to remission when passing sentence.

Most prisoners are entitled by law to remission of one quarter of sentence provided they are of good behaviour during their time in custody. The European Court of Human Rights has held that a loss of remission requires a specific finding of a breach of prison discipline. In practice therefore, a prisoner will normally get 25% remission unless they have breached prison discipline and a sanction of loss of remission has been imposed.

Any measure which would retrospectively affect the time spent in custody after a sentence has been passed is open to challenge.

I will continue to keep under review what measures (including remission) are appropriate to maintain effective participation rates in therapeutic programmes by sex offenders.