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

I appreciate Deputy Connolly's interest in the legislation. When the Bill was originally drafted I put down the statutory provision that a prisoner could not apply for parole if he or she was serving a life sentence until he or she served 12 years. The effect of that, if it is enacted, will take a great deal of pressure off the Parole Board. At present, the Parole Board has to consider applications from life prisoners, say, who are told after seven or eight years that they can apply for parole. Such prisoners go through the process and the board has to consider their application in the knowledge that the prisoner will not get parole. It would be a much more efficient system, from everyone's point of view, if prisoners were told that they cannot apply for parole if they are serving a life sentence until they have served a specified period of time.

Seven or eight years is too low. Twelve years is approximately right. One must balance the rights of the victims of crime and the rights of the prisoner. It reflects the purpose of imprisonment which is twofold: punishment and rehabilitation. It is a difficult balancing act to achieve. As legislators, we cannot be swayed too much by the interests of one group over the interests of another group. For too long, the interests of the victims of crime have not been given sufficient weight by the Oireachtas. It is not as though this is a provision which is appalling from a prisoner's point of view. If a person has been convicted of a crime that results in a life sentence, he or she has committed a very serious offence of deliberately and intentionally killing somebody. For that reason, it is appropriate to put it at 12 years. It will ease the work of the Parole Board. There is a logic to putting it in so that prisoners do not have the expectation that they will get parole.

See this speech in context