Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I have two minutes but whatever Dr. O'Shea is going to say he will have the opportunity to say.

I want to ask about prisons as well. I know this session is not about prisons specifically but it will factor into a lot of the work we do. We have hugely high rates of recidivism in this country - I think close to seven out of ten people who go into our prison system will return there within three years. A friend of mine often says that if we had a hospital that had the same figures for returns, we would be asking questions. What are we getting so wrong in how we do prisons? I do not know if we are doing rehabilitation or simple punishment but whatever we are doing, we are just getting it wrong. What would the witnesses say to someone who held that belief?