David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann notes the Report of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, entitled ‘Report on Penal Reform’, which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 27th March, 2013.

I am pleased this initiative has been taken by the Oireacthas to enable reports from committees to be debated in both Chambers. The sub-committee on penal reform was formed in October 2011. It met on four occasions in private and four occasions in public to consider the issues in detail, including written submissions and so forth. I thank Senator Bacik who acted as rapporteur for the report, the sub-committee members and those who have made presentations and gave evidence. The four public meetings were held on 23 November 2011, 1 February 2012, 24 October 2012 and 19 December 2012. We also visited Finland on 13 November 2012 to view what we were told was best practice in the world.

One criticism I have is this report was published in February 2013 and it has taken more than two years to have a discussion in the House. It is historic at this stage and a great deal has happened since then. We should adopt a protocol under which all committee reports should be debated by the Houses within six months of publication.

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