Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 77:

In page 20, lines 14 to 17, to delete all words from and including "order—" in line 14 down to and including line 17 and substitute the following:

"order has committed a criminal offence,".

This amendment deals with the revocation of a parole order, which is obviously a very serious step. I tabled the amendment in the context that the Irish Penal Reform Trust said that a violation of conditions in the absence of a criminal offence being committed should not automatically mean the person is returned to prison. I know Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill provides for a parole licence to be suspended if somebody is deemed to be an undue risk or if he or she has breached his or her release conditions, and that is fair enough. A suspension of a licence is fine but to have it entirely revoked with a person being sent back to prison to serve his or her full sentence is an incredibly serious decision and it should be one that is only taken for the most serious of reasons. It should not be automatic for the breaching a condition. The transgression has to be serious enough for it to amount to a criminal offence for it to be considered.

Amendment No. 82 deals the two-years versus one-year debate regarding a person whose parole licence has been revoked. It provides for a person whose parole licence has been revoked not having to wait two years to have a review in that he or she could have one after a period of one year. It is worth saying that the provision my amendment seeks to amend is deemed to be not appropriate by the current parole board. That is why we decided to examine that and it is interesting to take on board the parole board's views on that issue.