Ms Nuala Ryan:

Many people do not know anything about the visiting committee and assume a lot of stuff, like that we are volunteers or that is a do-gooders' thing. The visiting committee is a very unique, distinctive and effective vehicle to monitor.

An awful lot of what the visiting committee does depends very much on its independence. We must retain that independence, which is what we will be talking about in the other part of the Bill. It is vital that independence is kept because it allows us to go around and go in any time to any area of the prison. We can walk in. We are there weekly, fortnightly, monthly or if it is needed. We go for celebrations, we go to the workshops, we can visit the kitchens and all the important parts. An awful lot of bodies just do not have the time or opportunity to see the prisoners as frequently as we do and we build up trust. Trust is built up from time and experience going in. We function very well because we have built up trust with the governor, senior staff, with the assistant chief officers, ACOs, and perhaps with the chiefs. We are known around the prison and have a good relationship, which is very important because what we mainly do is listen. We listen, we observe, we have respect and we speak freely. If you ask a prisoner how she or he is doing they will tell you. It is absolutely no bother to them. When they come to see us on the visiting committee they could come with a whole complex of questions or just one. It is only through listening, experience and delving into that you find out there is actually much more they are concerned about. Some of things, as was said earlier, are simple such as the runners, or a prisoner missing their clothes, their post or they have not spoken to their girlfriend, partner or whatever it is. Sometimes there are reasons they do not want to engage and we must be careful with stuff like that but we walk the landings and see them face to face. That is the uniqueness of the visiting committee.