Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I wish to speak on amendments Nos. 17, 20 and 22. Amendment No. 17 is aimed at people who have difficulty in proving identity. If they have problems in producing identity, then surely the registration authority should rely upon the information that the Irish Prison Service has on prisoners' identity. That is reasonable because I do not suspect that there are hundreds of people in prison under false identity.

Amendment No. 20 seeks to extend the period, from seven days to 28 days, to allow a prisoner obtain information from outside. The Irish Prison Service allows one statutory visit per month. If the prisoner was to lose the privilege of additional visits, the one visit per 28 days would be a reasonable period of time within which to secure the information. I know that seven days is the minimum and I accept the point the Minister made, but I would prefer to see the minimum set at 28 days just to be sure.

Amendment No. 22 states that the registration authority shall rely upon the identity details of the applicant provided by the Irish Prison Service for the purposes of processing that person's application. If a person is in prison under a particular identity, surely the weight of the deprivation of the person's liberty and the details provided the Irish Prison Service should be sufficient to satisfy the terms of the registration authority, especially if that prisoner is not in a position to secure other information. There could be a breach from the family or the person may not even have a family.

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