Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Irish Penal Reform Trust makes a simple point when it says the length of time since a person has offended is the clearest indication that they have moved away from offending behaviour, and not the number of times they may have offended in the past. Likewise, the people who commit road offences, like myself, are not necessarily the people who need the most help in society. The people who commit crimes like burglary generally come from a more deprived background and a more difficult and less privileged life. One would think these are the people who need more of a break than the likes of ourselves who are all liable to be caught for road offences because we drive vehicles. I will go back to a very strong principle that I believe in, namely, that the State's primary obligation is to take best care of those who most need its help. People do not commit crimes such as burglaries and attacks on the person when they are well. They do not do that when they have a healthy life. They do that because they are troubled, they are not well, and if they had the capacity to try to make good and rehabilitate, surely society and the Government have an obligation to give them the maximum opportunity to make that new life.

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