Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

As I indicated on Second Stage, I have considerable sympathy with the proposed amendment and I said I would look forward to it with interest. There are difficulties with this matter, however, because when we talk about the interests of the victim in the criminal justice system, the person who is convicted and sentenced for an offence has a definitive sentence imposed upon them. In imposing sentence, the court frequently refers to the need to protect victims and to protect the public from this kind of offence, as well as marking the wrong done to the victim. That is the reason for sentencing. It has been suggested that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform should take more account of victims but no other Department is more concerned with victims than this one. We have a system of justice which is designed to deal with persons who perpetrate offences. The philosophical problem is that the concept of temporary release, which as a matter of principle is desirable for the humane administration of a prison, is inconsistent with the idea of serving the entire sentence that has been imposed on an offender. It is important to operate a system of temporary release that is objective, transparent and that operates under a specific set of criteria, which is legally sustainable. From the debate last week, it is clear that all Senators understand the reasons behind and the purpose of the temporary release system. If there was no possibility of temporary release it would be an inhumane prison regime, which I am sure none of us would wish to see in place.