Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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In the absence of any other member, I wish to tease out a number of points. First, I fully concur with the Deputy that it is more unfortunate that the template would be the 22 hours of solitary confinement. I would absolutely believe that we should be looking at a lot less than that.

A question that I put to Deputy O'Callaghan on his Bill, is there a particular template in respect of the 15 consecutive days and 30 days in any year? Are there international comparators in terms - I hesitate to say it - of best practice, heaven forbid in terms of solitary confinement? I am asking the question to tease out the construction of the Deputy's proposition. In relation to section 2 and the amendments of the sections, I absolutely support where the Deputy wants to bring this, but can she elaborate on section 2 (2A) "(d) no prisoner with a diagnosed mental illness or disability shall be subject to solitary confinement;". Is there any weakness in that wording by using the word "disability", and the wide understanding and application that can have because it is such a broad term in terms of many absences of ability or impaired abilities. Is there a weakness that the provision could fail to be applied in the sense that the subsection refers to a diagnosed mental illness? Might the reference to disability merit some strengthening in order to ensure certainty?

While in her response Deputy Daly laid the responsibility for protections in the prison system on the system itself: that protective solitary confinement was not an excuse or could not be, other measures have to be found in terms of protecting those who are detained in a prison environment, I am being a devil's advocate here. Are there instances where solitary confinement would be requested and would the measures contained work adversely in regard to such a situation? I have no personal knowledge of such a case, but I am trying to tease it out. At the end of the day I would like the Bill to be all the Deputy intends.

There is no other member indicating, and I know that Deputy Daly has another appointment. Would she like to respond to our collective contributions?