Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment. I am disappointed the Minister has not brought forward an amendment dealing with what we spoke about last week, specifically my amendment regarding any representations made by the victim or next of kin of the victim regarding the proposal to direct the release of a person from prison. The Minister should take those representations into consideration when considering a proposal to grant temporary release to a prisoner. I thank the Minister of State for being sympathetic to that proposal.

I am disappointed the Minister of State did not bring forward an amendment in this regard because we want to strike a balance between the rights of the victims and the rights of the offender. We often hear of victims speaking about their fear of what may happen when a prisoner is released. For every prisoner there is a victim. There are 308 prisoners on temporary release today. That means there are 308 victims. This legislation presented an opportunity for us to strike a balance between those two rights. I would like to hear why the Minister of State was not in a position to bring forward an amendment in this regard.