Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, is, as always, very welcome to the House. He is deputising for the Minister for Justice. In many ways, it is an awful pity that the Minister for Justice is not here to listen to my colleagues, Senators Wilson and McDowell, because for too long what has gone on in this country, in terms of adequate, appropriate and acceptable prison services and facilities, has been disgraceful.Senator McDowell purchased Thornton Hall on behalf of the State. In essence, it was cost neutral. The site was left sitting there, however. Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries per head of population in Europe, if not the wealthiest, but we have some of the most disgusting prison accommodation in Europe. I was a member of the justice committee for ten years, from 2011 until 2020, and I visited many prisons in this country. I have visited Mountjoy Prison several times. I have also visited prisons abroad. I was in Portugal with the Irish Refugee Council to look at the humane facilities that are available there.

People tend to lose sight of the fact that prison sentences are for a particular period and most, if not all, prisoners, depending on age, will rehabilitate and be released. Our responsibility is to ensure prisoners are rehabilitated. Many of them are there because of circumstances of birth. They never had an opportunity in life. Society was against them in every scenario from A to Z and they never had an opportunity to contribute meaningfully. Most likely, many of them became drug addicts at a young age. The State has a chance to help these people to rehabilitate while they are in prison and to consider alternative pathways in life. Unfortunately, the State is letting them down left, right and centre. That is not because of the decent, genuine, honourable and committed people who work in the Prison Service. They do their work but they are utterly frustrated. The school in Limerick Prison has not been operational for many years because there are no teachers to staff it. What chance is there to help people in their teens, 20s or early 30s to have a chance of a life if the school in a prison is closed? What does that say about us as a nation? The State is violating every human rights directive. It is outrageous. That is not the fault of the Minister of State who is here to listen to us. We need to have a debate in this Chamber on penal reform but, more important, we need to see action on penal reform. When the thousands of people who are currently in jail are released, what hope will they have if the system did not give them any chance while they were in it?

This is, by and large, a technical Bill. The measures in it are positive. My colleague, Senator Wilson, spoke about waiting outside a court for eight hours for a speeding charge to be heard. In the first instance, he should not have been in court for a speeding charge. That shows how messed up the courts system is. Last Monday week, a man who was rightly acquitted of murder walked out the door of the courthouse and there was a media circus around him. Surely to God we, as a society, can come up with better arrangements. There have to be better ways of doing business in respect of that man, as well as the families who may have felt they did not get justice. One would have thought the pandemic would have created a restart button and that Departments would have reflected on what we need to do to improve things. Sadly, that has not happened. I become disheartened because we have been talking about this for ten years. There was no money for the first five years but, since 2016, money has been available. There is no reason for Thornton Hall not being built or a teacher not being allocated to the school in Limerick Prison. It is just not acceptable.