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

One of the key points made was the statement by Mr. Black that prisons are full of poor people, not just economically but also emotionally, educationally, socially and in terms of health status. Many have difficulty regulating their emotions. Typically they are young men who have fallen out of school, education, training and society. One thing we must take away from here is that if we want fewer Travellers going to prison, we have to deal with their socioeconomic position. That is why the committee deals with health, housing, education, discrimination, employment, etc. If people do not get a fair chance in life, they have a much higher risk of winding up in prison. That is obvious.

Mr. Black said something interesting. He referred to mental health and, as I understand it, a fair number of people in prison who are Travellers have mental health issues. Mr. Black made the comment that some should not be in custody. That is interesting because I would always say prison is the last resort for anybody. As a society, we should look at every other option and see if there are better options. I wonder if in 100 years' time people will look at us and ask why we inherited a prison system and kept going with it. Will Mr. Black elaborate on the point he made? It is key. Improving the prison system is key but we also have to look at whether there are people there who should not be there in the first place.