Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

He retired from the Supreme Court in the last century. He penned many erudite judgments which are devoured with great interest by jurists and legal scholars. He was undoubtedly a very distinguished judge. I have no doubt his capacity is unimpaired in that regard.

The Senator asked what happens if a person's sentence expires while they are in the designated centre, which is addressed in section 16 as follows:

Where a prisoner is detained in a designated centre pursuant to section 15, the Governor of the prison from which the prisoner was transferred to the centre shall, as soon as it is practicable to do so, give notice in writing to the clinical director of the centre of-

(a) the date, if known, on which the prisoner will cease to be a prisoner, and

(b) any change to such date.

When the sentence expires the person is then free. There is no question of needing to be re-conveyed to a prison in some kind of formal act of delivery. The person is at liberty once his or her sentence has expired. Of course, the provisions of the 2001 Act can apply to a person in that position. They are dealt with by the civil legislation applicable to the care or treatment of such persons.

The Senator also referred to some outstanding superfluous references left in the legislation. The Minister is very anxious to have the legislation passed. The matter has been drawn to his attention. While they are now superfluous to the legislation, the Minister proposes to address this superfluity on another day in a different measure.