Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There is little evidence of it in this particular regard. I am reminded of the remark by the late Mr. Justice Kinlen when he said that rather than an Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention what we need is an inspector of the Department. It seems to me that there is probably some merit in what he said.

To return to where we started, namely, the question of the Houses of the Oireachtas being entrusted with approval of the measure, I am concerned about whether the Houses of the Oireachtas have discharged their responsibilities in that regard. The manner in which we structured our affairs did not permit us to engage in the kind of detail that was envisaged. Let us take, for example, the Jimmy Farrelly report. I hope nobody on either side of the House would suggest that we took that report, which was a synthesis of the objections raised, and went through it in any kind of systematic fashion. We did not. When the Minister went to the Seanad he did not allow the overworked Senators to make contributions on it at all and some of them were rearing to go. One House was entirely excluded from commentary on the matter. The motion was merely put to the House. It seems to me that if somebody is so-minded, that probably invites judicial review.

As I indicated on a previous occasion, the Minister then excluded advocates of reform who did not think the same way as the Department. They were shut out. I learned that the Irish Penal Reform Trust and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice were invited in today for a presentation on Thornton Hall. That seems to me to be the ultimate in cynicism, that after the decision was made and as we are about to affirm it in this one-paragraph Bill today, we invite in the troublemakers and ask them what they think and tell them what the story is.

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