Ms Joanna Joyce:

I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to make a presentation today on the issue of repatriation of prisoners in receipt of indeterminate sentences for public protection, IPP, in the United Kingdom. I represent the Maynooth office of the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas, ICPO, and am accompanied by my colleague, Fr. Gerry McFlynn, from the ICPO's London office. The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas is a charitable organisation that provides information and support to Irish prisoners overseas and their families. It was established in 1985 by the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference and at present, we work with more than 1,000 Irish prisoners worldwide. The majority of our clients are in the United Kingdom but we also have a significant number of clients throughout Europe and the United States. We also work with Irish prisoners in South and Central America, Africa, Asia and Australia. In the time allotted to us today, I will discuss briefly the issues surrounding the repatriation of IPP prisoners, while Fr. McFlynn will highlight the impact this is having on Irish prisoners in the United Kingdom.

The IPP sentence or indeterminate sentence for public protection was abolished by the United Kingdom's Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. However, there will be no sentence conversion for those prisoners are already serving an IPP sentence. We have been informed by the United Kingdom's National Offender Management Service that there currently are 55 Irish nationals serving IPP sentences in the United Kingdom. A number of these prisoners wish to apply for repatriation to Ireland but the Department of Justice and Equality does not at present accept repatriation applications from IPP-sentenced prisoners on the basis that there is no equivalent sentence under Irish law. This is something about which the ICPO is extremely concerned and we submitted a formal letter of concern to the Department of Justice and Equality in June 2013. The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act makes reference to adapting a sentence where, by its legal nature or duration, it is not compatible with Irish law. The transfer legislation does not make any reference to converting a sentence but this is provided for by the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The ICPO is aware there may be some legal difficulty in respect of adapting an IPP sentence and ask that this be addressed as a matter of urgency in order that IPP-sentenced prisoners are eligible to apply for repatriation. Repatriation allows a prisoner to maintain close links with his or her family, which is extremely important to ensure effective resettlement and rehabilitation. Repatriation benefits the prisoner, his or her family, his or her community as a whole and Irish society in general. I thank members for their time and will now hand over to my colleague, Fr. McFlynn.