Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

I am surprised the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not here, with due respect to the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Moloney. In fact the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, should be here with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform because there is a cross-over.

We are here, really, as a consequence of the death of Shane Geoghegan. That is why my colleague, Deputy Charles Flanagan, who is to be complimented, has brought this forward. The profile of the murderer who killed Shane Geoghegan would probably be as follows: he came from local authority housing, which was mismanaged in the 1970s and 1980s, was an early school leaver, suffered from social deprivation and through greed and without values, he gunned down an innocent man. That is the profile of the murderer, the man who killed Shane Geoghegan.

Sociological data states we are a society of middle mass and underclass, which we as a society have created. We have a prison system at present which can only be described as an academy of crime. The recidivist rate at St. Patrick's Institution correctional facility at present, I believe, is between 70% and 80%. Why is this? The vast majority of residents in St. Patrick's Institution have come from the same four to six postal districts since its inception. St. Patrick's Institution is run as an institute of incarceration and not education. Cutbacks have come right, left and centre to the workshops and educational facility. There is no emphasis on rehabilitation or education.

We can say, "Lock them up and throw away the key" and many people believe that, but it is not the answer. There must be more emphasis on rehabilitation and education of detainees because the formal education system has failed them. The only way forward is education and rehabilitation so we will not have the recidivist rate of 70% to 80%.

In our country of four million people, which is approximately the same population as greater Manchester, we are to blame because we have socially constructed and engineered this deprivation within society. President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama was elected despite the fact that the African-American population is 12% of the total US population and 50% of those incarcerated are African-American. This comes back to the deprivation we are discussing.

One must ask what is the educational attainment of prisoners in this country. It is less than the junior certificate. Our prisons should be filled by violent criminals and not those who owe money in fines, petty criminals or psychiatric patients.

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