Dr. Brian Farrell:

We have had an intense interaction with the Irish Prison Service. We have carried out many inquests in respect of deaths in custody. We have made many recommendations about things like suspension points in prisons, ligature policies, unstructured release of persons on temporary release and the question of investigation of the scene in prisons. My experience is that we have investigated these matters.

Our difficulty is the net point. When one sees some kind of breakdown of the regime in the prison, the law will not permit us to bring in a verdict or words to the effect of "system neglect," much less "unlawful killing" on an institutional basis. Identification of particular members would offend against fair procedure and natural justice. An inquest is not a trial. The European Court of Human Rights has said one of the principal functions is to place all relevant facts on the public record and to bring those facts into public scrutiny. We are endeavouring to do that, but we need to compare our practice and measure it against the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.