Ms Joanna Joyce:

Absolutely, there is arguably a human rights issue for those prisoners who are being detained and asked to fulfil criteria that they cannot possibly fulfil. I think it is that reverse burden that actually led to the IPP sentence being abolished, that prisoners had taken that case themselves, as Fr. McFlynn said, to the European Court which said that was not legitimate. Obviously that is an issue about which we would be concerned. As Fr. McFlynn said that legal aid is now being abolished. Many of the prisoners who would have taken cases on the basis of these issues may not now be in a position to take cases. That is something else we are working on and are concerned about. I agree there is a human rights issue there, a much broader issue that we need to look at in more detail.

In regard to the human rights of Irish prisoners in areas such as South and Central America and in Asia, specifically, we would be very concerned for prisoners in those locations. Prison conditions can be extremely poor. Many of our clients there might have limited access to food and water, basic necessities, medical and dental treatment. We have clients who suffer serious health problems as a result of the prison conditions. Safety is obviously a major cause of concern. We have some clients in prisons where there are no guards within the prison; they are guarded from the outside. I think everyone is familiar with those type of prisons in South and Central America. We are very concerned about and it is an issue we are always working on for those clients. As Deputy McGrath said earlier, the Department of Foreign Affairs is absolutely fantastic and does a wonderful job, in particular the embassies and consulars responsible for people in those locations, but it is always a struggle. One of the things we do is provide financial support for prisoners in these locations. They need that financial support to buy food and water. In some prisons they might have to rent their cell or rent a mattress - all of those extreme things. We are extremely involved in those cases in South and Central America and Asia.