Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have one suggestion. I know that, at some stage, we will have the Director of Prisons before the committee. I had heard of late of a case within the paramilitary block where the security was a little over the top. A prisoner was away on day release over a weekend and came back on a Monday. He had a doctor's appointment across the road in Portlaoise the following day, when there was a full Army escort to get him across the road. He had been out for the whole weekend, for what was a three-day or four-day release, and came back in, so perhaps he could have been allowed to go across the road to the doctor's appointment. While I understand he is in a very high security wing, perhaps some flexibility could be arranged to allow people to go across the road in those circumstances, which would save money.