Mr. Paul O'Farrell:

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. We thank the committee for the opportunity to observe this pre-legislative scrutiny. We thank the other witnesses and committee members for their interest in the scheme and the thoughtful points they have made. We have listened carefully to everything and we will reflect on it. We look forward to receiving the committee's report in due course and we will give it the fullest consideration. We are also happy to respond to the committee in writing should it need to clarify any matter.

I wish to provide a brief clarification on one point. There were a number of comments on the need for the provisions to reinforce the independence of the body and its CEO, including matters such as providing the CEO with an ability to comment on Government policy. For the avoidance of doubt, the purpose of the Bill is to provide a statutory basis for the Prison Service's functions as a service delivery body that, as it stands, delivers a Government service on behalf of, and in the name of, the Minister. The essential purpose of the Bill is not to alter in any fundamental way that role or the role of the director general as the person with overall day-to-day responsibility for delivering those services. The Bill's purpose is rather to create a full statutory basis for the functions and responsibilities of the IPS and to put in place a best-practice statutory framework for its governance and accountability, including its accountability to the Minister as the Government representative who will continue to be politically accountable for the performance of the prison system. I wanted to say that.