Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of non-Irish citizens in prison here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40330/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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It is important when examining prison statistics to bear in mind that at any time approximately 90% of the sentenced prison population is of Irish nationality. In relation to the question raised, I wish to inform the Deputy that on 6 November 2009 there were 538 non-Irish nationals in custody, including 98 on remand. This represented 13% of the prisoner population on that day.

In 2008 non-Irish nationals accounted for approximately 30% of all committals to prisons. This was down on 2007 when non-Irish nationals accounted for approximately 34% of all committals to prisons. A profile of prisoners committed in 2008 shows that 2% were from the UK, 11.2% were EU citizens, 2.5% were other Europeans, 6.9% were African, 4.7% were Asian, 1.7% were from South America and 0.2% were North American.

The 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, which is provided for in Irish legislation by virtue of the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts, 1995 and 1997 provides a mechanism whereby non-nationals serving sentences in Ireland may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in their own countries. The policy of the Convention, which is based on humanitarian considerations, is to overcome the difficulties posed for prisoners serving sentences in foreign jurisdictions, such as absence of contact with relatives and differences in languages and culture. In this regard, it has been long established Government policy that, whenever possible, prisoners should be permitted to serve their sentences close to their families. Such transfers may be facilitated where the home state of the foreign prisoner has ratified the Convention. The consent of all three parties in the process is required prior to any transfer, i.e. the sentencing state, the receiving state and the sentenced person. I decide on all such requests following the collation of a number of reports from various agencies setting out the consequences of such a transfer.

The "Council of the European Union Framework Decision on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving the deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the EU" was recently adopted. It arises from a proposal by Austria, Sweden and Finland to revise the 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

The primary purpose of this new Framework Decision is to build greater efficiency into the transfer process. The Framework Decision has been the subject of extensive negotiation at various levels within the EU in which Ireland has played an active and constructive part. However, unlike the 1983 Convention, which has international participation beyond the territory of the EU, the scope of this Framework Decision will apply only to EU Member States.

The principal changes from the 1983 Council of Europe Convention involve the removal of the requirement for the consent of the prisoner and a modification of the requirement for the consent of the receiving state in certain circumstances in order for a transfer to proceed, primarily where the prisoner is a national of the other EU State and is normally resident in that State.

My Department is currently making the necessary preparations to comply with our obligation to make provision for this new mechanism in domestic legislation by December 2011.