Phil Hogan
Question:21 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Justice if she has any plans to alter the method of appointing prison visiting committees as recommended in the Whitaker report.
Written Answers. - Prison Visiting Committees.
The underlying purpose of the recommendations made by the Whitaker Committee about the composition and proceedings of prison visiting committees was to ensure that these committees would be representative in character and effective in operation.
Justice Ministers — and I include those of the Deputy's own party — have in practice appointed people from all walks of life to these committees and, while my mind is not closed on the issue, I am not convinced that the more complex appointment system envisaged in the report would be likely to produce a better spread of relevant experience.
If it were the case that visiting committees were ineffective in the sense of adopting an approach to their work which was generally lackadaisical and non-critical, then there would be need to re-examine the method of appointment, as a matter of urgency. But, anybody who is familiar with the content of reports issued by visting committees, particularly in more recent years, will know that they do not draw back from criticism — sometimes quite severe criticism — of the Minister and the Department of Justice where they consider such criticism to be warranted.