Ms Fíona Ní Chinnéide:

On the question of the slowness or lack of implementation of previous reports, there are two points, the first of which is resources, and the second, political will. They are the two things that generally tend to be obstacles. There is progress on the strategic review of penal policy. There have been two reports published on implementation. We can see positive engagement by the Prison Service and the Probation Service in this regard but progress is slow. Other agencies are not responding in a like manner.

We are disappointed in particular by the statutory bar on temporary release for people sentenced to mandatory or presumptive ten years for drug offences. There were two recommendations that the situation should be changed. The Law Reform Commission in its report on mandatory sentencing in 2013 made such a recommendation and the strategic review group echoed that. The oversight implementation reports that the proposal was made to the Minister for Justice and Equality and that it was rejected and it will be resubmitted. More clarity is required in this regard. Progress is slow. It is a case of baby steps.

Five key points were made in the report of the Oireachtas committee on penal reform. The first was a commitment to decarceration to reduce prison numbers. There has been progress in this regard. In 2011, the numbers were 4,600 and rising. Yesterday, there were 3,734 people in prison and that represents an increase of 80 to 100 people on the previous month. It is never certain that progress has been made but overall there has been a reduction. We believe it should go further and that the daily prison population, which is currently 79 per 100,000, should be reduced to 60 per 100,000 or even 50. The director general mentioned that reoffending rates in Nordic countries is 35%. The Nordic model is more successful overall so we welcome all moves in this direction.

The second point made by the Oireachtas committee is that prison sentences of less than six months should be commuted and replaced with community service orders. That did not happen. It is a good recommendation. The Probation Service needs to have resources in order that as its remit expands, as we believe it should, given that community-based sanctions are much more effective in many cases, it gets the resources to be able to meet that need.

The third point is to increase standard remission from one quarter to one third and introduce an incentivised remission scheme of up to one half. That recommendation goes back to the Whitaker report from 1985, which Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned. Remission is not something that enjoys wide public or political appeal. There has been a very successful introduction of what is known as the community return programme. Prisoners who are deemed eligible, who are serving longer sentences, can be released into the community at the 50% mark to complete their sentence in the community. That greatly aids resettlement in the community. There is a saving on the €70,000 per year cost of individuals being in prison while gaining from the community payback. The programme has been enormously successful. The reports are that compliance rates are 90% although we remain very concerned about why women are being returned to prison in 60% of cases when men are only being returned in 10% to 15% of cases. The issue must be examined. The programme is very positive. The numbers are beginning to fall, and the suggestion is that all those who are eligible have engaged with the programme. A total of 450 prisoners were released into the community return programme in 2014 and it was 370 in 2015. We have proven the model and shown it works. Let us expand the criteria and get more prisoners released in this way. The initiative has been very successful. Internationally, people are looking at Ireland as a model in this regard. It is a rare good news story.

The fourth recommendation is the introduction of legislation providing for a structured release, temporary release, parole and community return. Community return has gone ahead but there has been very little progress on parole. There had been none until Deputy O'Callaghan introduced his Parole Bill in June 2016. Again, it is a case of baby steps.

The final recommendation is to address prison conditions and overcrowding and to increase the use of open prisons. Prison conditions have improved in many prisons but they continue to be substandard and unfit in many prisons. We are very concerned about conditions in Cloverhill Prison. We have not seen an inspection report. We have seen a visiting committee report on the prison and we understand the Inspector of Prisons completed an inspection report on the prison but it has not yet been published. We need inspection reports to be published in order that we can tease them out and learn what is going on. We are very concerned about the Midlands Prison. Half the prison population there are protection prisoners who have vastly reduced access to regimes. The regime is not considered to be a restricted one because the prisoners are not locked up for 19 hours a day but they are spending a lot of time on landings not able to access education and training workshops. They also report reduced access to medical treatment. We have many concerns about that. There has been no improvement in terms of increasing the use of open prisons. Yesterday, I worked out that just under 8% of prisoners were in open prison facilities. We would like to see the goal to be a rate of 30%, especially with reference to the Nordic model. As Ms Martyn said earlier, the lack of provision of open prison facilities for women in particular is something that needs to be addressed.