Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average length of a life sentence in Irish prisons; and if, in view of the role of the Houses of the Oireachtas in the matter of mandatory prison sentences, he will elaborate further on comments he made recently on the matter. [31438/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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A person subject to a life sentence remains the subject to that sentence for life. A life sentence is mandatory in a limited number of cases most importantly in the case of a conviction for murder.

The Houses of the Oireachtas in enacting the Criminal Justice Act 1960 and the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003 provided a framework whereby the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may release prisoners for such period and subject to such conditions as may be specified. Temporary release may be granted on a number of grounds including humanitarian grounds or where the Minister is of the opinion that the person has been rehabilitated and would upon being release be capable of reintegrating into society. Before making a decision regard has to be had to a number of factors including the nature and gravity of the offence, the period of imprisonment served and the potential threat to the safety and security of the public.

A person who has been sentenced to a life sentence and continues to remain a threat will serve his or her life sentence in custody. Five life sentenced prisoners have died in custody since 1997 and a number of current life sentenced prisoners have served more than 30 years in custody.

However when a prisoner has served a lengthy period of imprisonment and has been rehabilitated, consideration is given to granting extended periods of temporary release to such a person. Those life sentenced prisoners on temporary release remain subject to their sentence and if they breach any conditions they will be returned to custody.

The average time spent in custody by life sentenced prisoners given extended periods of temporary release over the last five years is 16 years. The comparable figure for the period 1975 to 1984 was 7 to 8 years.

Clearly there are different circumstances which must be taken into account in each tragedy which attracts a mandatory life sentence. Consequently to impose a mandatory period of a specific duration which must be served in custody without any prospect of temporary release would not, in my view, be the correct way to proceed. Our current system provides that all prisoners who are serving a life sentence are eligible to have their cases reviewed by the Parole Board when they have served seven years in custody. The Board makes recommendations to me as Minister on how such life sentences should be managed. Generally speaking - as the average sentence length suggests - life sentenced prisoners are reviewed on a number of occasions before any substantial recommendations are made that might eventually lead to the release of the prisoner into the community to continue to serve his/her sentence, subject to strict conditions. The Parole Board process has, I believe, served us well and I do not propose to alter the current practice.