Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Every judge in the United Kingdom knows that one will get a third off when a sentence is imposed. When a judge in Ireland gives a ten year sentence, he or she knows a prisoner will be allowed out after seven and a half years, unless the prisoner does something in the course of his or her imprisonment which is of such a serious nature to allow a substantial deprivation of his or her liberty for a fraction or the entirety of that extra quarter.

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