David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I believe the situation in the country is improving a little. Some of the older Members will remember Nell McCafferty's newspaper articles, "In the Eyes of the Law", which described the appalling injustices that were done. Justice was handed down on a class basis. I do not need to rehearse the old cliché that 90% of the people in Mountjoy jail come from the same Dublin postal districts. Therefore, this is a question of poverty.

Each Government has resolutely set its face against channelling money back into this area. I remember discussing this issue with Tony Gregory and submitting an amendment on a Bill proposing that drugs money recovered by the CAB be spent in this way. The setting up of the CAB came about after first being mooted by Tony Gregory, although he got little credit for it. The Government would not use the drugs money as suggested and put it back into the communities. Instead, it wanted to ring-fence the money for other use.

Various governments have boasted about building prisons, but that is an idle boast. Building prisons is a farce and a waste of time. The Government should be closing prisons. The only people who should be in prison are those who are really dangerous and a threat to society or who have committed heinous crimes. I remember railing here about a mother in Limerick who was snatched up and put into Limerick jail for not paying her television licence. The current Minister for Justice and Equality has addressed this issue in the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Bill, but we need to look at better ways of dealing with this kind of situation. Mild offenders who are imprisoned for trivial offences are likely to come out much worse. Our prison system has virtually no remedial effect. What remedial effect exists depends on the character of the individual rather than the justice process.

Once or twice I visited Mountjoy gaol at the suggestion of my friend Brendan Kennelly, who was wonderful and used to teach there and introduce prisoners to literature. I met one of those prisoners afterwards, a heroin addict who had been in serious trouble, who had managed, with help from the people in Mountjoy, to get himself out of the situation he was in. He was managing a big catering event in Trinity College when I met him. It would be wonderful if we could get this sort of initiative going.

I want to pay tribute to the Prison Service, its prison officers, some of whom I have known in the past, and, particularly, enlightened governors such as John Lonergan. I am sure he would say we would be better off closing prisons and making the kind of arrangements proposed in the motion. I congratulate the movers of this motion and I hope the Minister will issue a pilot scheme for community courts.