Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Most people do not know these committees exist, but those who do and are concerned about them mainly belong to the political class or the journalistic class in our society and have a perception that these are effectively gravy trains for people who are appointed at a deliberately great distance from the prisons in question to maximise tax free expenses. I have put my mind to wondering how best that could be dealt with. One possibility would be to cap the amount of expenses anybody could get. Another possibility is to do what I am doing, that is, to ensure travelling expenses will be reduced because people tend to be clustered in institutions. A third possibility is to replace expenses completely and to pay a flat allowance, although the Revenue Commissioners would doubtless tax it if it is not seen as expenses. Nonetheless, there would be no incentive for people to seek appointment to institutions solely for the purpose of maximising their expenses. No doubt, there are other possibilities as to how it can be done but I share Senator Terry's view that at a time when there is financial pressure on the prisons service in every direction, it is not acceptable that valuable resources should be spent unnecessarily on travelling expenses. We do not live in circumstances where there is money for everything and there are huge financial constraints on what is being done. I think I can claim with some degree of credibility to be the first Minister to have taken some steps in the right direction. Therefore, I welcome the moral support which the Fine Gael Party is offering me on this matter.