Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Cuirimse go huile agus go hiomlán leis an méid atá ráite ag an Seanadóir Ó Tuathail chomh fada agus a bhaineann sé leis an moladh seo, nár cóir d'aon duine a bheith caite isteach sa phriosún toisc nach bhfuil ceadúnas teilifíse acu. Tréaslaím leis an Seanadóir Norris agus an Seanadóir Ó Tuathail as an leasú sin a mholadh.

It is remarkable that it could be possible for somebody to be sent to prison for non-possession of a TV licence. I do not fully hold with what I believe Senator O'Toole is saying in so far as he is critiquing the system around which the licence is required and pursued. I am coming at this from a point of view of best practice in our criminal justice system. It is clear that we need alternatives to custodial sentences for non-violent offenders across the board. We hear much about the way in which our prison system has become a school for criminals, particularly at a time when younger offenders are incarcerated in the same place as older offenders. We have had debates about that and will have further debates about that issue.

We must take a more enlightened approach to our criminal justice policy and what Senators Norris and O'Toole have done indirectly is to shine a light on one aspect of that. Do we really want people who did not have a television licence, some of whom may be younger people, to be exposed to the prison system and the brutality and potential corruption that involves, in so far as many people who go to prison are exposed to it, and come out in some cases in a worse position that when they went in?

It is time we engaged in fresh thinking about our criminal justice system and alternatives to custodial sentences for non-violent offences, particularly on something as relatively trivial as non-possession of a TV licence. It is farcical that it could be possible to be sent to prison for that in this day and age. On that basis I urge the Minister, as Senators Cummins and O'Toole have done, to consider accepting this amendment in the light of the common sense that it involves.