Prison visiting committees have long been in need of a radical overhaul to enable them to fulfil their potentially valuable role in ensuring the highest standards are maintained in the prisons service. As constituted, they fail to perform the task they have been appointed to carry out at considerable expense to the taxpayer. The result is that politicians are held in lesser esteem by the public. The problem is a cross-party one. Prison visiting committees were in place when Fine Gael was in government, the reason the motion should not be understood as critical of any individual here or any member of a prison visiting committee. We seek long-overdue reform. The Minister must seriously examine the committees and institute the necessary corrections to the system.