John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 466: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the specific proposals in the programme for Government for which he is responsible; the target dates which he has agreed in relation to the delivery of these proposals; and if he will publish an implementation schedule. [9588/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputies know, the Programme of Government, at pages 47 to 51 inclusive, sets out a substantial agenda for reform in the area of Justice and Equality. The initiatives being pursued include those described in the following paragraphs.

The scheme of a Legal Services Bill is currently in hand in my Department. A key objective of the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland is to return the Irish economy to growth. That programme requires, among other things, that we enact legislation to eliminate barriers to trade and competition relating to the legal profession and to reform the area of legal costs. The structural reforms encompass, first, setting up an independent regulator for the legal profession and implementing the recommendations of the Legal Costs Working Group, and, second, implementing the outstanding recommendations of the Competition Authority to reduce legal costs. Under the Programme of the Government for National Recovery 2011-2016 the Government has undertaken "to establish independent regulation of the legal profession to improve access and competition, make legal costs more transparent and ensure adequate procedures for addressing consumer complaints." The proposed Legal Services Bill is designed to achieve the necessary structural reforms. It will be ready for publication in the third quarter of 2011 in compliance with the EU/IMF Programme.

The Criminal Justice (Community Services) (Amendment) Bill 2011, which is designed to extend the use of Community Service Orders, has already completed its Second Stage. It will begin Committee Stage when the appropriate Committee is formed. This Bill gives effect to the Government's commitment to fashion a sentencing system that secures a safer society at a lower cost to the taxpayer. It reflects the principle of restraint in the use of custody, which is a basic principle of European prison law and policy. It also aims to remedy the under-use of Community Service Orders in our penal system. The Bill places a weightier obligation on trial judges to consider imposing a Community Service Order on convicted offenders in cases in which a sentence of imprisonment of up to 12 months is being considered.

The Criminal Justice Bill 2011 is ready for publication. This Bill will become one of the key measures in our offensive against white-collar crime. The Bill provides for the suspension in certain circumstances of the detention of persons detained by An Garda Síochána under the Criminal Justice Act 1984. The member of An Garda Síochána in charge of the station where the suspect is being detained will have the power to suspend the detention when he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that doing so is necessary to allow enquiries or investigations to be carried out to advance the investigation of the offence involved. The Bill also grants power to An Garda Síochána to apply to a judge of the District Court for an order requiring witnesses to produce documents or provide information. And it creates offences relating to the concealment of facts disclosed by documents and withholding information. This Bill will better facilitate the investigation of white-collar crime.

An emergency Courts Bill for the enforcement of maintenance orders is ready for publication. As the Deputies know, a maintenance order is, in its essence, a court-mandated order requiring one married person to pay money to another for support if they are no longer living together as husband and wife. Problems have arisen in the District Court with respect to the enforcement of certain foreign maintenance orders. The Bill aims to resolve those problems.

The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 is ready for Committee Stage. This Bill updates the law governing the entry into, presence in and removal from the State of certain foreign nationals. The intent is to shape a law and procedure that is stringent where appropriate and flexible where appropriate but which is fair, humane, efficient and enforceable. The Bill will keep faith with the Government's commitment in the Programme of the Government for National Recovery 2011-2016 to "include a statutory appeals system and set out rights and obligations in a transparent way".

Finally, the Programme of the Government for National Recovery 2011-2016 sets out a commitment to "review the proposal to build a new prison at Thornton Hall and consider alternatives, if any, to avoid the costs yet to be incurred by the State in building such a new prison." I have appointed a committee - the Thornton Hall Prison Review Group - to review the Thornton Hall Prison Project. The task of the committee is to examine the need to build a new prison at Thornton Hall and consider any alternatives.

I am conscious that prisoner numbers have increased from a figure of 3,151 in 2005, when the Thornton Hall Prison Project was first approved, to 4,520 on 21 April 2011, an increase of over 40%. I am also conscious that the 21 April 2011 figure of 4,520 people in prison must be placed in the context of a bed capacity in the prison system of 4,510. Against this backdrop, I believe that a speedy but comprehensive review is needed to determine: first, if new prison accommodation is needed or if greater use of non-custodial sanctions would be a more reasonable option; and, second, assuming for the moment that new prison facilities are needed, if building them at Thornton Hall would be the most cost-effective option.

The terms of reference are intended to ensure that all the pertinent factors including economic factors are taken into account. The full terms of reference for the committee are on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality (www.justice.ie). The members of the committee are: Brendan Murtagh, a partner in LHM Casey McGrath; Brian Purcell, Director General of the Irish Prison Service; Judge Catherine McGuinness, retired President of the Law Reform Commission; and Tom Cooney, Special Advisor to the Minister for Justice and Equality. The deadline for the committee's report is 1 July 2011. After then I will be in a position to make a decision on the project.

These items are important planks in a raft of reform measures that my Department is working on. There are other measures in process. For example, on the basis that pre-release offenders need a continuity of practical help to adjust successfully to free society, my Department is working on measures to make the path of the released offender to a law-abiding life an easier one to walk. It would be rash, however, to specify time-frames for the introduction of the various laws and initiatives we are committed to. The Deputies are assured that we will implement the remainder of the Programme of the Government for National Recovery 2011-2016 with all deliberate speed.