Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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119. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners in the prison system that are there on remand; the percentage this represents of the whole prison population; the steps taken through the provision of resources to reduce this number; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28798/23]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons on remand for more than two years; the extra resources being provided to the various services to ensure long remands are not a feature of the justice system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28801/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 and 122 together.

Prison Governors are, by law, required to admit into custody all prisoners committed by the Courts and as such, the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody in any given year.

The Irish Prison Service have informed my Department that as of 13 June 2023 there were 869 people on remand which represents 19% of the overall prison population. The total number of prisoners currently on remand for more than 2 years is 15.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government 2020 contains a broad range of policies and proposals that represent a coherent approach to enhancing and sustaining a more just and safe society, with a specific commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

In respect of delivering on this commitment, the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024 was published in August 2022. This review is an important development as we seek to reduce crime, prevent offending and make everyone safer. It seeks to find the balance between ensuring that people who commit serious crimes receive a punishment and a period of incarceration proportionate to that crime, while at the same time acknowledging that sometimes community-based sanctions are more appropriate in diverting offenders away from future criminal activity and that they have a role to play in addressing criminality, reducing reoffending and providing protection to the public, while holding the individual accountable.

In this regard, the Deputy will also be aware that my Department has commenced a policy review of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014. As part of this policy review, due consideration is being given to facilitating the effective and efficient use of community sanctions by the courts, and to ensuring the courts have a range of appropriate options for dealing with people who have committed minor offences. This will reduce the reliance on prison as a sanction for minor offences. Consideration of this matter is ongoing.

In addition to this my department is also committed to increasing efficiencies, including by driving the modernisation and Digital First agenda across the entire Justice Sector. This is reflected in the additional funding of €2.5 million provided in Budget 2023 for the Courts modernisation programme, building on significant investment in recent years.

A key element of delivering this is the commitment to maximise the use of digital technologies and significant progress has already been made in introducing digital technologies that improve access to justice and provide a better and user-centred service.

Towards the end of 2020, the Courts Service committed an investment in excess of €2.2 million to expand the number of courtrooms that are technology enabled. The project brought the number of up-to-date technology courtrooms from 55 in 2020 to 120 at the end of 2022. Investment is committed to continuing the expansion of technology enabled courts over 2023 and 2024.

These courtrooms support remote and hybrid hearings and allow parties, witnesses, prisoners or An Garda Síochána, dial in remotely to a physical courtroom and support digital evidence display.

The Deputy will be interested to know that this work compliments a range of other important strategic developments aimed at improving access to justice, including the first National Family Justice Strategy, the Civil Justice Efficiencies and Reform Implementation Plan and the work of the Judicial Planning Working Group (JPWG).

The final report of the Judicial Planning Working Group was noted by Government on 21 February, and highlights the importance of developing a structured system for planning and deploying judicial resources, which recognises organisational interdependencies and a whole of system approach. The recommendations relate to five key areas:

Additional Judicial resources

Measures to promote the effective use and management of Judicial Resources

Enhanced data collection and management

Measures to improve services to Court users

Judicial Skills and training

The recruitment of an additional 24 judges was approved by Government on 21 February, based on the recommendations, for appointment in 2023 with a further recommendation of 20 more judges, following the implementation of reforms and efficiencies.

Officials in the Department of Justice have established an implementation group to oversee the delivery of the recommendations outlined by the JPWG.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners released on parole in each year since 2013; the average sentence served of these prisoners, including the number released to date this year and the average years served by them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28799/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Parole Board, as provided for under the Parole Act 2019, was established on 31 July 2021. The Act placed the parole process on a statutory footing and established an independent, statutory Parole Board to decide on parole applications.

The new Parole Board makes its decisions to grant or refuse parole independently from the Minister for Justice and replaces the Interim Parole Board which had been in place since 2001.

Recommendations from the Interim Parole Board were considered by the Minister for Justice who made the final decision whether to approve or refuse Reviewable Temporary Release as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended.

In accordance with Section 28(6)(b) of the 2019 Parole Act, I have been informed by the Parole Board of 9 Parole Orders. Not all prisoners have an imminent release date and as such only 3 of those notified by the Parole Board have been released to date.

I am advised by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that the number of life sentence prisoners released to the community since 2013 to the supervision of the Probation Service are set out in the table below.