Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

This is a serious human rights issue. I would like to echo some of the points that were made by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan earlier. The conditions of Marian Price's detention are cause for serious concern. She is a woman in very poor health. She was isolated for ten months in a men's prison and is now behind a wooden door again, isolated in an area of three cells, with no unsupervised access to fresh air and so on. We need to do more.

The nub of the issue lies with the pardon itself and the fact this pardon seemingly no longer exists. I ask the Tánaiste what further action he can take in order to find it. The reality is she was released under a pardon in 1980 yet last year she was arrested and an order was signed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoking a licence under the Good Friday Agreement. It is maintained by the Pat Finucane Centre that she was never subject to that licence. No evidence has been produced to dispute that and the pardon seemingly no longer exists. She was freed under a pardon and does not come under the terms of a licence so how can she be lawfully detained at present under a licence that was never in existence in the first place?

Serious concerns have been raised about whether her detention meets the lawful standards and I do not believe these have been answered yet. Will the Tánaiste comment on whether he has discussed where this pardon has gone and why it does not exist, because that was the basis on which she was freed? It is the contention of the Pat Finucane Centre and others that there was no basis to any licence being revoked.

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