Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

These amendments amend the Part of the Bill that governs the Parole Board. Amendment No. 17 seeks to provide a more precise definition of the functions of the board than was outlined in section 7 of the Bill as originally drafted. I am happy to go along with that. The amendment is effective and beneficial.

As the Minister stated, amendment No. 18 sets out specifically what the membership of the board should be. This is similar to what was originally outlined in the section 8 that I drafted, and it remains the case that the membership of the board can number no more than 15. The Minister, in the amendment, has suggested that the number of members should be between 12 and 15. That is appropriate, and it is worthwhile keeping flexibility in that respect.

One of the concerns with the parole process was that the Executive had too much control over it in that the Minister appointed the Parole Board and ultimately made the decision on whether parole was granted. I am pleased that the Minister has kept on board the proposal in the original legislation, which is that, although he appoints the people, the individuals are nominated by persons who are independent of the Government. For example, the chairman of the board will be nominated by the Chief Justice and any lawyer on the board will be nominated by the Bar Council or the Law Society. Obviously, this is a board that will require members with diverse abilities across multifaceted disciplines. For that reason, we need to have psychiatrists and psychologists on the board. It will not be the Government that will be nominating them. Rather, they will be nominated by their respective professional bodies. However, the Minister will ultimately appoint. A person will be nominated by the Irish Prison Service, the Garda and the Probation Service. People may be concerned that these are all entities that are under the control of the Department of Justice and Equality, but the days of a Minister trying to influence the appointment of individuals to boards such as this are long gone. Although some people may have concerns about the fact that the Department will have some level of indirect control over it, I do not share those concerns.

In the Bill as originally drafted, I included a member of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, which is a body that does a great deal of excellent work on behalf of prisoners. I specifically identified it in the legislation as being an entity that should nominate a person for membership of the Parole Board. That is not included, but I note that there will be a representative from an NGO that specialises in advocating for the rights of persons in prisons. Being realistic, the IPRT will fulfil that function in any event. I urge the Minister, who will have the executive power in respect of appointing that person, to do so and to concentrate on that body.

The rest of the amendments are standard amendments in language favoured by the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers regarding the term of appointment, resignation and removal of members. This is standard in much legislation and I am happy to go along with those amendments.

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