Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the discussion around this Bill and thank my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, for introducing it. It is important that the legislation tries to move control away from the Minister. An executive function concerning parole should not be in the hands of a Minister.

The cloudiness of decision-making in recent years and decades needs to be addressed statutorily. We must codify the rules and make the process of obtaining parole transparent for those in the prison system.

I wish to pick up on some of the points made by other members. We need to deal with the membership of the board legislatively. I would be concerned about a nominee coming from a particular body in a professional capacity because that would be an insider from a board of insiders. On a professional basis, we need to open the process up to the Public Appointments Service so that a professional can employ through that service to be a member of the board rather than our having a particular professional body nominating someone to the board. The latter restricts the professional application process for a particular nominee.

In general, I welcome the fact that this justice committee is moving towards a debate on penal reform. When studying law, I studied penology and the history of political debate on penal reform. Historically, the discussion has been on punishment and the length of time spent in the prison system and not about the rehabilitation of the prisoner and the overarching concerns in this regard. This Bill will move the debate towards the right framework, which should result in giving people a chance.

Like others, I have not studied every piece of legislation. We need, however, to impose an obligation on the wraparound services so they will have an active role regarding those who are given parole. They should be obliged to work with the individual rather than having the individual approach them. The services should have an obligation to play a positive role in respect of the individual. This is an issue with addiction and rehabilitation generally. I am not saying every prisoner has an addiction issue but it is important, in respect of medical, counselling and community-level services, that the input of the service provider not be optional. It should not just be the obligation of the person given parole. Funding should be linked to working properly with people who have engaged with the parole service. They get off scot free much of the time where they have an option to opt out in respect of people who are vulnerable and need intervention. There needs to be a statutory obligation to take an active and positive role. This would fit in with regard to providing the wraparound services. We can actually provide a legislative component such that the services are not just consulted but actually involved, with a statutory responsibility to play an active role in cases of parole.