Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Minister is not sympathetic to this amendment. While a person is remanded for detention pending trial, clearly that person has been charged with a serious offence and the court has not seen fit to release the person on bail. That is a remand prisoner. Temporary release for such a prisoner has to be a matter for the courts because it is the courts that decided to remand the prisoner for trial and to remand him or her in detention pending trial. It is not the Executive but the court which made that decision.