Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being a little late. The schedule has changed very quickly. Unfortunately, I must leave because I must chair the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions at 4 p.m. I must leave soon to prepare for that.

One of the issues of concern is the Good Friday Agreement. It requires that there be an equivalent level of human rights protection in both parts of the island. In the North, the law is such that sentences of up to 30 months may become spent. The Irish Penal Reform Trust, with which we agree, argues the term should be 48 months; hence, the amendment. At the very least, there should be equivalence with the law in the North.

There is concern over political prisoners. The law has had an impact on their employment rights in many regards. The people of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Good Friday Agreement, which calls for human rights equivalence across the island and for political prisoners to be able to move on with their lives as long as they do not reoffend. The legislation, as presented by the Minister, does not provide for equivalence.

That is unfortunate because, as Deputy Pringle stated on the wider point concerning the time periods, depending on the category of offence, 12 months is not a sufficiently long period.

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