Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners who have benefited from early release in each of the past five years; and the categories of offences for which they served their sentences. [34999/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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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 sentenced prisoner who has been released into the community a considerable time ago.

Most prisoners will benefit from temporary release at some stage but it is not possible to provide the Deputy with the specific information requested 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.

However, I can provide the Deputy with statistics on the average number of prisoners on temporary release from 2006 to 2010:-

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 203: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners who he expects will benefit from early release in each of the next two years. [35000/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that it is not possible to forecast how many prisoners will benefit from temporary release in each of the next two years. I can, however, advise that on Monday, 14 November 2011, 799 prisoners were on temporary release. The number on temporary release equates to 15% of the total prison population.

The Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003 provides that sentenced prisoners may be approved temporary release. This discretionary instrument assists in gradually preparing suitable offenders for release and in administering short sentences, and is an incentive to well-behaved prisoners.

Temporary release arrangements operate similarly 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.

I might mention that a number of key recommendations contained in the Thornton Hall Review Group Report are receiving priority attention in my Department and many are in the process of being implemented most notably the introduction of an incentivised scheme for earned temporary release under which offenders who pose no threat to the community are offered early temporary release in return for supervised community service. In this regard, a six month pilot project commenced in October 2011 in which it is envisaged that a total of 130 prisoners will participate. To date, 16 prisoners have been released under the scheme with a further 14 due for release this week.

I also intend to give new guidelines to the Parole Board for the application of a similar scheme to long-term prisoners. I expect to make further announcements about the implementation of these reforms later in the year.