Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

My colleague, Deputy Gay Mitchell MEP, has done much work in this area. In fact, he published the Electoral (Amendment) (Prisoners' Franchise) Bill 2005, which was the precursor to this Bill. We on this side of the House are very pleased that the Minister and the Department have taken on board the views expressed by Deputy Mitchell, as well as other views. Therefore, Fine Gael will support the Bill on all Stages.

As the Minister explained, the background to the Bill is that prisoners in Ireland have the right to vote but there is no mechanism by which they can vote. The Bill is in response to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in October 2005 that the United Kingdom laws preventing prisoners from voting contravened the fundamental human rights of prisoners.

Prisoners currently have the right to vote in Ireland but, as they are registered to vote in their constituency of residence prior to conviction, they are physically unable to do so. The Bill proposes to introduce a mechanism through which prisoners can use a postal vote.

What we are basically doing is encompassing the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and building on the issue. There are clearly many issues that come to people's minds with regard to prisons. I accept this is not a justice debate and we are not discussing those issues today. Nevertheless, they should be addressed. The issues include Mr. Justice Kinlen's report into prisons, an independent inspectorate and the important matter of what is happening in St. Patrick's Institution, particularly rehabilitating and working with young first-time prisoners who have been convicted and incarcerated. I hope the Government will bring forward other legislation dealing with these matters.

It is important our prison system forms part of our reform agenda. It is also important that our criminal justice system is framed with the hope that this measure will in some small part go towards the rehabilitation of prisoners. It is an important social step and democratic reform which will, my party believes, strengthen our electoral process.

The question internationally is very interesting. We have done some research on it with the help of the Oireachtas Library. That work will match the Minister's word for word and argument for argument. I acknowledge as an important step the extension of staff in the Oireachtas Library to approximately 40 researchers, as it helps all of us on this side of the House who do not have the ranks of excellent civil servants. It will add to debate and it is a very constructive move. The Minister will know how good the researchers are from my comments today.

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