Written Answers. - Prisoner Transfers.
Joe Costello
Question:
239
Mr. Costello
asked the
Minister for Justice
the number of prisoners who have been transferred from Great Britain to the Republic of Ireland under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons' Act, 1995; the number of prisoners who have been transferred from the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons' Act, 1995, which Act will be a year in operation at the end of October 1996; the number and category of prisoners who have applied from each jurisdiction; the current stage of their applications; and the plans, if any, she has to speed up the process of transfer and to impress upon her counterpart in Great Britain, the Home Secretary, the need to expedite the transfer of Irish prisoners.
[18358/96]
A total of 107 Irish persons who are serving sentences in the United Kingdom have applied or expressed an interest in transferring into this jurisdiction, to date.
Forty-five applications have been transmitted to my Department by the United Kingdom Authorities for consideration by the Irish authorities. Such a transmission is a formal requirement and does not give approval for the transfer by the UK authorities. Three of the applicants whose cases were transmitted have since been released by the UK authorities. A further applicant has died in custody there.
I have been in a position to give my formal consent to ten of the remaining 41 applications. Two of the applicants have since been transferred to Ireland. The UK authorities recently gave consent to three applications, that I had already consented to, and my Department will be applying shortly to the High Court for the necessary warrants to bring these persons back here. I have also consented, in principle, to an eleventh application subject to certain information being provided by the person on his domestic arrangements.
Of the remaining 30 applications, five are still being examined by officials in my Department, having only recently been received; one application is the subject of correspondence between my Department and the UK authorities — we are seeking additional information; 18 applications have been forwarded to the Chief State Solicitor's Office for advice in accordance with the Act and seven of these are now the subject of further queries with the UK authorities as a result of the advice received from the Chief State Solicitor's Office. Six other applications are in the process of being finalised for submission to me. It should be noted that my consent to a transfer must be matched by the consent of both the offender and the UK authorities.
Thirty-six persons serving sentences in Ireland initially applied for transfer to the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. Nine of the applicants subsequently withdrew from the process; two were deemed to be ineligible, four were released pursuant to the powers vested in me, as Minister, under the Criminal Justice Act, 1960.
The first outward transfer to the UK occurred on 4 September 1996 and I expect some more will follow in the months ahead. This leaves 20 outward applications still being considered.
Twelve of these applications have been formally transmitted — six to the UK and six to Northern Ireland. The eight remaining applications are due to be submitted to me for my consent, in principle, prior to the preparation of the reports required to allow an application to be considered by another jurisdiction.
As regards the length of time it takes to process an application, this is due in no small degree to the cumbersome but necessary procedures and requirements which have their roots in the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and, to an extent, in our legislation.
The Home Secretary and I have discussed this issue only recently and are well aware of the importance of processing applications without undue delay. We have agreed that our officials should take another look at the operation of the convention as between our two countries to see if any administrative changes can be made which might expedite the process.
It is not understood what the Deputy means by the term "category of prisoners". Applications for inward and outward transfers have been received from persons serving determinate and indeterminate sentences. The nature of the offences differ from case to case as do the sentences imposed. The security classifications of the applicants also differ. It is, however, important to state that each application is treated on its own individual merits.
