Vol. 404 No. 4
278 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice the reason he has refused to approve the recommendations of the Whitaker Review Group on the number of long term prisoners in Arbour Hill Prison, Dublin 7; and the reason he has not acted on these recommendations which would have allowed short term release over the Christmas period for a small group of these prisoners.
In my reply to Question No. 151 of 12 July 1990, I indicated that the advice provided to me by the Sentence Review Group is confidential and that I did not propose to make public comment in relation to the operations of the group or the action taken by me with advice. In the circumstances I do not propose to comment on the accuracy or otherwise of what is stated in the Deputy's question in relation to such matters.
I can assure the Deputy, however, that an effective system for sentence reviews is in operation.
