Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

This is the Government's response to an issue which was very helpfully raised by the Opposition at an earlier point. The primary purpose of the Government amendments is to allow credit for the time served which is called the deductible period. Account will be taken of entitlements earned, including as a result of the time already served, if any, by the person whether in the sentencing state or in Ireland. In other words, it can include time served in Ireland while on remand pending the making of the order as well as remission or other entitlement earned abroad, if any.

Once the person is imprisoned here, the Irish rules on remission, which is a quarter compared with the UK which is one third, will be applied to the time served here. The amendments to subsection (1), namely, amendments Nos. 23 and 24 and to subsection (3) — amendment No. 29 to section 9 — ensure that in making its order in respect of the period to be served, the High Court takes account of what I have just described as the deductible period. A new subsection (7) is being added to section 9 via amendment No. 32, which defines the deductible period along the lines that I have just outlined.