Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are in the 60-second question time now because we have approximately four to five minutes left.

What we have heard all afternoon has been very interesting. But for literally two to three minutes, I would like to come at this issue from a slightly different point of view. Is prison the answer in the first place? Could we do a great deal more through community service and if I might say so, not only community service in the conventional sense but community education? In other words, if somebody has reoffended in a small way then he or she has to attend a process of community education rather than community service, or diversion programmes to put it another way. This would be to deal with people who are being sentenced for two or three months who should really not wind up in prison.

The next question, and I would like a "Yes" or "No" answer to these, is that the idea of prisons, as I understand it, is for the safety of society. If people are going in and coming out repeatedly and doing worse things and coming back in for longer sentences, this idea is certainly not achieving that aim.

The next thing is try to help people to reform or to avoid crime in the future. Is our prison model actually serving the purposes for which prison is determined to be for?

I have a further question, and as I said these all require "Yes" or "No" answers. We can tease these out in the second part but I believe it is something that we need to reflect upon. Are we arriving at a syndrome whereby people serve sentences for three months and then for six months or, in other words, that the sentences actually get longer and longer and in some cases, the offences become ever more serious and therefore, this has a negative effect rather than a positive one? Is there a better way of doing this that would avoid this syndrome?

Specifically in relation to women in prison, and Traveller women in particular, should there be an open prison?

I seek a "Yes" or "No" on that. Is homelessness the real issue for some, and would the requirement be more for sheltered accommodation than conventional prison?

The third issue is one we have not discussed much. When fathers are taken to prison and particularly when mothers are taken to prison, what effect does that have on the children? Is it negative or positive? I seek "Yes" or "No" answers as I have to curtail this session and want to finish it at 3.05 p.m. We can continue this discussion. What I really want to find out as Chair of this session is whether these are relevant issues that we need to consider when writing our report, or do we just stick strictly to what we have debated up to now? I call Ms Costello first.