Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that work is being done on this but it is quite ironic that the Minister's answer is almost identical to the answer her predecessor gave more than one year ago on the work that had to be done, that the board had to be set up, that a chief executive had to be put in place, there were technical issues to be dealt with, funding had to be put in place and so on. At the same time, people who are the victims of very serious crime are fearful that the perpetrators who caused huge damage and destroyed their lives are eligible for parole, in many cases after seven years, and they have big issues and concerns around all of that. Having passed the Act through the Houses with the issues recognised and with determination to change things, one would have expected it was a priority and the legislation would be put into place much faster. A sense of urgency around this really needs to be brought to bear. While the Minister has said 2021, it is another whole year away in the view of those people who are sitting and waiting. They are very anxious that the perpetrators of serious crime against them could apply for parole under the current system. We want to ensure that does not happen.

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