Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Clare Daly for raising this important topic. I welcome the views of the various contributors to this debate and the many compelling testimonies that were put on the record of the House by many Deputies. The Bill cuts across a range of important issues which includes the treatment of prisoners and control, discipline and sanctions in a prison context. These are central issues to the maintenance of good order and safe and secure custody for all prisoners and staff in prisons. As I outlined in detail earlier, the issues are both complex and far-ranging. Balancing the rights of all prisoners with the regimes and resources available whilst maintaining good order and security is complex and requires a careful assessment of all of issues involved. Much of the discussion is focused on the Mandela rules which are an evolving entity. The rules acknowledge that not all of the rules are capable of application in all places at all times due to the great variety of legal, social and economic conditions throughout the world. With this in mind, it is imperative that any proposed solutions are flexible enough to respond to development in the areas of human rights legal case law and policy. To instil such rights in primary legislation by way of this Bill would remove this flexibility. It would also severely curtail the governor's ability to ensure good order and safe and secure custody. The Irish Prison Service could not meet the commitment to ensure that all prisoners in such circumstances are assured access to work, training, education and free association with other prisoners.

I appreciate the seriousness of intent behind the bringing of the Private Members' Bill on the issue of solitary confinement. The Government, specifically the Irish Prison Service, shares that intent. That is why there has been such a dramatic reduction in the number of prisoners subject to 22-23 hour lock-up as explained in my opening remarks. This came about because of the structured system of looking at a problem and solving it incrementally. It is important to place these developments in the wider context of prison reform, as I said earlier. Huge improvements have been made to prison conditions in recent years. Capacity issues in the Dóchas Centre are also being addressed as well as the other issues raised earlier. In conjunction with the Probation Service the Irish Prison Service has continued the national roll out of a community return programme which is an innovative, incentivised scheme for earned temporary release under which carefully selected offenders can be granted structured temporary release in return for supervised community service. In addition to this programme, community support services are schemes that have been set up in Cork Prison, Mountjoy campus, West Dublin campus and Limerick Prison, the aim of which is to reduce recidivism rates by arranging for additional support structures and provide for a more structured form of temporary release. This aim is supported by the release of the recent recidivism study by the Central Statistics Office which showed a reduction of recidivism rates of 2.4% from the previous year's figures. This vindicates the policy on penal reform in recent years and shows that a more enlightened approach to how we treat prisoners is entirely compatible with public safety. Future developments such as the development policy on solitary confinement will ensure further safeguards are put in place to protect the rights and treatment of prisoners, to ensure compliance with international developments such as the Mandela rules, to maintain good order and safe and secure custody and ultimately to make society safer.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality will certainly be taking on board the views that were expressed this evening across the House and will be considering them in detail. She has been working with the Irish Penal Reform Trust and good progress has been made in the area of penal reform. She has recently published the latest report of the implementation and oversight group which has overseen the implementation of the penal policy review group. There has been imaginative innovation such as community return, which involves the structured temporary release of prisoners. As I said earlier, the end of slopping out in the Irish prison system is in sight and this is an enormous achievement. The Tánaiste acknowledges there are issues with people who come into contact with the criminal justice system. An inter-Department group exists to address this and the first interim report was recently published on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality. This deals with what happens from the first encounter with gardaí to the courts.

Given the willingness of all to co-operate with this Bill, I will not push it to a vote. The Tánaiste has taken a most progressive approach and I am sure she will work with the committee to meet the Mandela rules. I compliment Deputy Daly on her Bill.

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