Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 4 provides that "all contracts for the performance of monitoring duties entered into with private providers by the Government after the commencement date of this Act shall stipulate that such activities shall be performed on a non-commercial, not-for-profit basis." This is not an outrageous proposal. The United States is probably the best example of practice in other jurisdictions. It is also a wonderful example of why elements of policing, security monitoring and so forth should not be allowed to become commercial because the industry has mushroomed out of control and become self-perpetuating. The American approach makes it attractive to do as one sees fit to create the highest profit, rather than doing what should be done by right.

The amendment does not preclude the State from hiring private contractors but provides that it should be able to monitor and control private contractors and pay them for their work without being able to make extra profit by doing A, B or C. The prison system in the United States has spiralled out of control because it was privatised. Companies that have invested in American prisons have come almost to rival arms manufacturers when it comes to lobbying. They are keen for changes in legislation that will result in more prisons being built and more people being sent to prison. More than 2.5 million people are locked up in the United States. This is an incredible figure even in the context of the country's population. I support the amendment.

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