Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to reform the remission regime in prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19408/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Having noted the proposal of the Fine Gael Justice spokesperson in a recent Adjournment Debate to introduce further remission incentives, I have no plans to revise the remission regime in prisons at this time. As the Deputy may be aware, the majority of prisoners are entitled to statutory remission of one quarter of their sentence. Section 59 (2) of the Prison Rules, 2007, allows for the discretionary granting of additional remission up to one third where a prisoner has shown further good conduct through his engagement in authorised structured activity and where, as a result, the prisoner is less likely to re-offend and will be better able to reintegrate into the community.

I can at the outset advise the Deputy that this additional concession will only be awarded in exceptional cases and where I am satisfied beyond any doubt that the prisoner concerned has demonstrated that she/he meets the requirements as set out in the Prison Rules. Perhaps I should also point to the fact that despite this additional opportunity to earn additional remission our remission rates are significantly below the level currently operating in the UK and Northern Ireland for automatic conditional release where rates of 50% are in place. While there are a number of applications for extra remission under consideration at present, to date only one prisoner has been granted this concession.