Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I bring in the witnesses to wrap up the discussion, I am sure we would all be open to writing to the Minister for Foreign Affairs regarding some of the issues they raised. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, deals with the SEUPB with respect to the equivalent in the South. Regarding the document one of the witnesses spoke of submitting to the committee, does it outline the legislation that discriminates against ex-prisoners in regard to that?

To follow up on other points that were made, most people following these proceedings at home perhaps would not be very shocked about an ex-prisoner being stopped from travelling somewhere or being blocked in terms of applying for a job, but they would be shocked about that happening to their family or their grandchildren. Having regard to the history of the foundation of this State and people coming out of conflict, I remember the President, Michael D. Higgins, spoke of the difficulty his father found in getting work post the Civil War. One would think we would have learned from what happened in the 1920s and 1950s. I am sure we, as a committee, would be open to further progress this. It is a body of work and we want to be able to move forward in terms of the issues facing ex-prisoners. Mr. Culbert said the cohort of prisoners is 25,000. Is that from the past 40 years or was he referring to the 1950s?