Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

If the prisoner were to behave in a manner that could potentially lead to the reinstatement of that two and a half years, it is important that the person who does the job of deciding whether that decision was fairly made can see around corners and can see that due process requires X and Y to happen in the conduct of the appeal.

This is not small beer. If it were some kind of argument about whether a prisoner was rude to a prison officer and was losing his or her entitlements to a visit for a day, one can well imagine that this would be small stuff which any decent, honourable and commonsense person could carry out. I agree with Senator Cummins that in those circumstances, it might be superfluous that only a barrister or a solicitor of experience could do it. However, let us not forget that this is a serious function and one is dealing with significant remission as well. If push came to shove and somebody faced an extra year in prison as a result of one of these decisions, the Senator may bet his bottom dollar on it being a situation in which any departure from the constitutional requirements, due process, natural justice or whatever would be challenged immediately, and it would be down to the High Court where an expensive judicial review would be unleashed on the State.