Vol. 423 No. 6
5 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice if the person (details supplied) who appears in the 1991 State Directory as a member of the Visiting Committee of Wheatfield Prison, Shanganagh Castle and the Training Unit is one and the same person.
The answer is yes.
Would the Minister agree that the person referred to in the question is Mr. John McEllin who happens to reside——
Names are being mentioned.
I beg your pardon, a Cheann Comhairle.
I am concerned lest there would be a reflection on the integrity or the character of the person concerned.
That is the last thing I intend to do. I will approach the matter in a somewhat different way. Would the Minister agree that the person who has been appointed to three different visiting committees of our prisons — the training unit in Mountjoy, Wheatfield and Shanganagh Castle — is a gentleman who lives in Balla, County Mayo, and who has been in receipt, in the first nine months of this year, of £7,000 of public money for expenses incurred in travelling to Dublin to visit these prisons and that he is an active member of the Fianna Fáil Party in County Mayo. Can the Minister confirm that?
The gentleman to whom the Deputy refers is, I understand, living in Balla, in east Mayo. Unfortunately, the Deputy pronounced his name improperly.
How would the Minister pronounce it?
I would be happy to give the Deputy lessons in proper pronunciation on surnames after this.
The Minister knows him very well so he should be familiar with the pronunciation.
Of course, I know him well. The answer to the Deputy's question is that the amount of money is £5,870.17, not the figure stated.
The time for dealing with priority questions is exhausted.
I have one supplementary.
It must be very brief. We have exhausted the time for priority questions as the Deputy will observe.
Would the Minister acknowledge that when the legislation to establish prison visiting committees was passed in 1925 it was envisaged that those people who live adjacent or close to particular prisons would be appointed to prison visiting committees? Other than being a very active member of the Fianna Fáil Party and a person who is well known to the Minister, can the Minister indicate what degree of expertise this man has which merits him travelling the highways and byways of Ireland, from Mayo to Dublin, on a regular basis to attend meetings of prison visiting committees?
We have had that before.
What expertise does this man have that merits this appointment when someone with similar qualifications in Dublin could be appointed?
We should now be dealing with other questions. I want to bring this matter to finality without any further debate.
The person referred to in the question is from my neighbouring constituency and is somebody who is well known to me. I understand he had been appointed to the prison visiting committees sometime before I became Minister. Be that as it may, unfortunately, there are some people from the west who are incarcerated in our prison system. The intention is that the people who would serve on these committees would come from various parts of the country——
One man on three committees.
——and that they would be in a position to ensure that the needs of all the prisoners are understood by them. This man has given very good service.
Has he missed a meeting?
The real test of anybody who would be appointed by a Minister or the Government is their effectiveness in the fulfilment of their role. I do not know why the Deputy has such an interest in all this. I wonder how he can purport to have all the information on it, I should like to hear from him on that.
In regard to another Dáil Question last Tuesday——
We now come to deal with other questions to the same Minister. Question No. 6 is in the name of Deputy Byrne.
Obviously, he did not make it to the censorship board. We thought he might have.
Please, Deputy Shatter, we have lost some of the time for dealing with other questions.
Happily he will not be in a position to appoint or recommend anybody to any board.
Ar aghaidh linn go dtí Ceist 6.
