Dr. Joe Garrihy:

I will be brief. I think sometimes when we compare between jurisdictions it is better to learn from what they did wrong than what they did right. New Zealand is an early adopter of OPCAT, and some information is coming out of there. We have raised some of those issues today, including already being compromised by resourcing arrangements such as a lack of independence, and the inspection capacity being constrained because of the resources available. They can only do so many inspections because they do not have the resources to do more. An issue I mentioned already is having no people with lived experience of the criminal justice system involved. Also, interestingly, in New Zealand there is a prison ombudsman who is the NPM for prisons and does inspections and so on. I note that the Bill lacks any dealing with compliance mechanisms in prisons, and what the new rviesed compliance system will look like. The question of whether a prison ombudsman should be established in Ireland is a key point that needs to be addressed. I should also add that if OPCAT is ratified immediately, there is a period of two to three years, but in that time the expertise of the SPT can be availed of. We can use that resource iron out as many of these details.