Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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440. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to introduce regulations to allow for persons serving determinate sentences to become eligible for parole review by the Parole Board as per section 24(3) of the Parole Act 2019; the status of the policy review for the potential introduction of these regulations, as detailed under action 15 in the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024; whether additional staffing and resources will be provided to the Parole Board for the operation of these regulations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2550/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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At present, the provisions of the Parole Act 2019 apply to those serving a sentence of imprisonment for life. Section 24(3) of the Parole Act 2019 provides that the Minister may introduce regulations prescribing eligibility criteria for applications for parole for those serving long-term fixed sentences. To date, no such regulations have been made.

The Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024 contains a commitment to examine the policy base to allow for the introduction of the regulations necessary to determine eligibility for parole for those serving long-term fixed sentences under the statutory Parole Board.

Policy work on these regulations commenced in Quarter 4 of 2023. In advance of the regulations being developed, it should be noted that all those serving sentences of 8 years will not necessarily become eligible to apply for parole (subject to serving a portion of the sentence yet to be set). The Parole Act 2019 makes clear that the regulations will prescribe a term regarding eligibility that can be no lower than 8 years, but this is a minimum point provided for under this legislation, and the Minister is under no obligation to set this as the point of eligibility. The minimum sentence length could be considerably longer, and will be subject to policy analysis.

This policy work is at an early stage but I can assure the Deputy that matters relating to the staff and resource implications of any changes will be examined in the course of this process.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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441. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for information on the total number of decisions for release made by the former Interim Parole Board relating specifically to determinate sentence prisoners in 2019, 2020 and 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2551/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The role of the Interim Parole Board was to review the cases of long term sentenced prisoners and make recommendations to the Minister in relation to the administration of those sentences; for the sake of clarity, it is worth emphasising that it was the Minister who made decisions in relation to such matters, rather than the Interim Parole Board.

The interim Parole Board commenced operations in 2001; it concluded operations in July 2021 due to the establishment of the statutory Parole Board.

I regret that it is not possible to provide the figures requested by the Deputy as to do so would involve a manual review of the files reviewed by the Interim Parole Board during this period; however, I have asked my officials to write to you separately on this issue.

I can further advise the Deputy that the Annual Reports of the Interim Parole Board are available on Gov.ie and contain further detailed information on the work of the Board, including statistical data, which may be helpful.

www.gov.ie/en/collection/2e75e-parole-board-annual-reports/