Ms Caron McCaffrey:

I will first pick up on the Deputy’s point about people who come to prison for short sentences. There is quite a lot of conversation happening at a policy level within the Department at the moment in terms of the effectiveness of criminal justice sanctions. International research will show that community-based sanctions are much more effective for people who do not pose a great risk to public safety. This is because the issues of mental illness, mental health, addiction and skills deficits are better dealt with within the community. They are better supported within their communities. Certainly, the evidence points in that direction.

As part of the programme for Government, there was a working group established to look at penal policy options. Certainly, some of the priority recommendations coming out of that report, which is currently with the Minister and is due to be published shortly, is around expanding the range of community sanctions available to the courts to deal with people who are serving short-term sentences. From a prison service perspective, it takes time to adequately engage with somebody on their addiction, on their mental health or on their mental illness, as well as to give somebody an educational qualification. Unfortunately, if a person is in custody for two, three or four months, they will not get the benefit of those services. There are waiting lists.