Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it has. Allow me to explain to the Chairman why it has, and I will put it into context. I understand that prison staff are on duty to receive incoming prisoners who are convicted by the courts or who are brought for incarceration for whatever reason. The problem is that thousands of these prisoners are people who have not paid fines, are brought to prisons and are processed in the prisons. They are brought in and released the same day or the day after. This is a huge waste of resources and it has been happening for years. The Minister has introduced legislation to change that situation and I ask her to update the committee on this. The figure runs into tens of thousands of euro and it has a significant impact on the number of staff within the prison. They have to be on duty, yet the prisoner is let out at the end of the day.