Mr. Mark Kelly:

I thank the Senator for his comments.

On independence, I wish to emphasise that if I could not comment on Government policy then I would not be here before this committee so it would be a retrograde step in future if that were to go through.

On the more general point made about the safety of prisoners, I wish to underline that the proportion of the prison population that seeks protection from others is growing exponentially in many of our prisons. It is not just a question of building new prisons. They also must be resourced and the regimes must be resourced. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time in the impressive new prison facility in Limerick.