Fr. Gerry McFlynn:

The majority of the prisoners have partners and families in the UK so many of them would not be interested in being repatriated. As to what would happen with prisoners coming back to Ireland, that would be a matter for the Irish Prison Service. The British authorities would not be in a position, given that it no longer issues IPP sentences, to dictate to anybody here how long a person would have to serve. It would really be a matter for the Irish Prison Service to decide whether to keep them for a limited period or to release them.