Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Senator Kett. I welcome the Bill. The title is a mouthful — I listened to the Minister trying to get his mouth around words such as "execution", "sentencing states" and so forth so I will simply refer to "the Bill". I was researching the Bill this morning and reading about the Schengen agreement and other conventions. The mind boggles at the depth of the issues they cover. However, one can see how effective they are when one sees a Bill which gives effect to provisions in the Schengen agreement.

The Bill permits the transfer of the execution of a sentence when somebody has fled a country. The person can be brought back or made to serve his or her sentence in the state to which he or she fled. It is a short Bill. It will not apply to a sentence of less than six months or to the retention of a prisoner who has only six months of the sentence left to serve. It is not used to deal with petty crime, which is welcome. In many cases where Irish persons are found guilty by a foreign court, it is for drunken behaviour or some kind of football madness. It is generally a respectable individual who is well behaved in his own country but who goes abroad and, for whatever reason, gets caught up in something that lands him in trouble. I am glad the Bill does not cover such instances but applies to more serious crimes.

This is important legislation and I am glad it is before the House today. It permits the transfer of prisoners between states. The prisoner will have to initiate that process. If a young Irish male is serving a prison sentence in Spain, it is not only a sentence for that individual but also for his family. Everybody is aware of the cost of travel and if he has young children, it will be an added burden on the family not to have much access to their loved one.

Under the Bill, "national" means not only an Irish citizen but also a person who has close ties with Ireland. That could be the spouse or partner of an Irish national who is serving a sentence in another country. Again, the Irish person is also a victim because the sentence is served in a foreign state. With this Bill, the woman can have her husband returned to Ireland if that is what he wishes. This will cut down on costs for the couple.

It is important to note that we are not seeking leniency in the sentence. The person will serve the sentence in full in an Irish prison. The safeguards in the Bill are important and commendable.

There is no appeal system. The sentence will only apply when it is final. There will be no need for an appeal to be heard and Ireland will not interfere. All the final stages of the conviction will have been gone through before a sentence is reached. The sentence to be served in Ireland must not be less favourable than its legal nature handed out in this State for that type of offence. Again, that is good. In addition, all the entitlements in regard to remission will be taken into account. If a prisoner has served half his or her sentence in another state and where good behaviour can be taken into account, that can be transferred with the prisoner and sentence to this State.

The new arrangements are beneficial for a prisoner as they will be an alternative to extradition. I do not know about other Senators, but I remember the 1970s and 1980s when "extradition" was almost a dirty word. It left a sour taste in our mouths. We all have memories of people stringently fighting orders to have them extradited from this jurisdiction to another. Our hearts would have had to have gone out to them. People were brought back to this jurisdiction to serve sentences even though they were not from this jurisdiction. This legislation gets rid of extradition, which is good because I do not believe any of us liked the notion.

As my colleague, Senator Bradford, pointed out, a crime is a crime. After every crime, there are victims. Victims should not be forgotten and should be respected. This Bill does not forget victims. It ensures that nobody will get away but that prisoners will have dignity, will be treated as individuals and will be allowed to come home to serve their time.