Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 182: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of prisoners on the various forms of early day or special release on a monthly basis in each of the past 12 months and to date in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43358/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware periods of temporary release granted can vary greatly from a few hours following a family bereavement to, for example, a requirement to report to the prison every 12 months in the case of a life sentence prisoner who has been released into the community a considerable time ago. I can advise the Deputy that the number of prisoners on temporary release on 15 November, 2010 was 660 which represented approximately 12.5% of the overall prison population.

The average number of prisoners on temporary release for each month of 2010 is set out in the following table;

It is not possible to provide figures to the Deputy for all forms of temporary release as this would require the manual examination of records. Such an examination would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.

Temporary release arrangements, in accordance with the Criminal Justice Act 1960 as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003, can operate similar to a system of parole, which is a feature of prison systems worldwide. They are an important vehicle for re-integrating an offender into the community in a planned way. The generally accepted view is that the risk to the community is reduced by planned re-integration of offenders compared with their return to the community on the completion of their full sentence. The Irish Prison Service has also judiciously used temporary release as a means of reducing numbers in times of serious overcrowding. Each case is examined on its own merits and the safety of the public is paramount when decisions are made. In addition, all releases are subject to conditions, which in the vast majority of cases include a requirement to report on a regular basis to the offender's Garda Station. Of course, any offender who breaches his or her conditions may be arrested and returned to prison immediately by the Gardaí.