Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if, as part of his commitment to imprisonment as a last resort, he intends to bring forward legislation to address sentencing issues with particular regard to imprisonment not being generally used for non-violent female offenders, especially when they are the primary care-givers of young children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14621/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that judges are independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. In accordance with this principle, the role of the Oireachtas has been to specify in law a maximum penalty and a court, having considered all the circumstances of the case, to impose an appropriate penalty up to that maximum. The court is required to impose a sentence which is proportionate not only to the crime but to the individual offender, in that process identifying where on the sentencing range the particular case should lie and then applying any mitigating factors which may be present.

The Irish Prison Service's three year Strategic Plan 2012 - 2015 contains a commitment to develop a specific strategy for female offenders in conjunction with the Probation Service and other stakeholders in the statutory, community and voluntary sectors. The overall aims of the strategy for dealing with female offenders will be to identify those women at risk of a custodial sentence, and through greater use of community supports and inter-agency cooperation to provide the necessary services to further enable the Courts to consider diverting these women from prison. The strategy also aims to improve the outcomes for those women in custody; reduce recidivism; strengthen early intervention measures through adopting a coordinated, multi-agency approach and explore the potential of alternatives to custody.

In addition, as the Deputy may be aware, in September 2012, I announced a strategic review of penal policy. I have established a working group to carry out this review which will examine all aspects of penal policy. As part of that review the issue of female offenders will be examined as will the more general question of sentencing policy. I expect the Group to report later this year at which point I will further consider these matters.

However, I can advise the Deputy that the number of females in custody at any one time is a minute fraction of the overall prison population. For example, on 20 March, there were 158 females in custody which represents 3.66% of the prison population of 4,313.