James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this. It is an area I wanted to flag when we got to this section. As I said, we are considering the additional provisions that are required in respect of sentenced persons in regard to their opinion and their consent and, in order to ensure it is fully informed, we are looking at what additional safeguards are required around that. The idea would be that, in order to approve the forwarding of the judgment, the Minister must be satisfied that the transfer would facilitate the sentenced person’s social rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society. The opinion of the person is an important feature of this assessment and the Minister is required to consider that opinion. It will be a legal requirement and I expect we would have to show that it was given appropriate weight. We are looking at this to see what further additional safeguards would be required and this may come up on Report Stage.