Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree generally with the principle involved but am a little uncomfortable with the way it has been drafted. Obviously there is a process there in that a person who breaches his or her parole conditions could potentially be arrested, have his or her parole revoked or there is a hearing of the parole board and so on. It is structured in such a way, however, that it is essentially an automatic criminal offence to be in breach of the conditions of the parole order. This is a difficulty because some of the conditions of parole may not necessarily be criminal offences. The Irish Penal Reform Trust has given the example of insobriety. The person could be expected to stay sober as a condition of his or her parole. There are other such examples. It would not necessarily lead to the revocation of the parole order but as this proposed legislation is structured, it is automatically a criminal offence, if I understand it correctly. This is despite the fact that not being sober would not ordinarily be a criminal offence. I have some reservations regarding the proposed new section 44. Perhaps the Minister will address that but if not, perhaps I will vote against the amendment. Will the Minister clarify the situation? If I understand the amendment correctly then any breach, regardless of whether it is a criminal offence, is treated as a criminal offence on the basis of it being a breach. That is my current reading of it.

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