Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 29, line 4, to delete "shall" and substitute "shall, subject to subsection (2),".

Amendment No. 43 is a technical one and dependent on acceptance of amendment No. 44. Amendment No. 44 gives the vital discretion to the governor of a prison to decide whether he or she wants to demand a payment for services described in the Bill. There could be a number of reasons he or she would not want to do so but the Bill currently requires governors to charge for services and appears to leave no room for movement in this area.

Amendment No. 45 is an important insertion which guarantees that none of the provisions under section 37 will be used to prevent access to medical treatment for prisoners. It may be argued by the Minister that such a subsection is unnecessary but it is an important safeguard of the rights of prisoners and I urge him to accept its insertion into the Bill.

While the Bill is clear that prisons may not profit from provisions of goods or services to inmates by stating in section 37 that payments or deductions shall not exceed the full cost of providing the goods or services, it is not clear that there could not be other methods of revenue generation. I table this amendment to make the position clear and to ensure there is no loophole in this section which would allow governors, prison wardens or other prison officials to take advantage of a situation.