Vol. 487 No. 1
119 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the current situation regarding persons (details supplied); whether the British Home Secretary has defined their life sentences; and, if so, the likelihood of being transferred to serve the remainder of their sentences. [3647/98]
As the Deputy may already be aware from recent media reports, the Home Secretary announced on 30 January 1998 that he had decided to set "whole life tariffs" in each of the above cases. The tariff is the period to be served by the prisoner in order to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence.
The position as regards their transfer applications is that they were received in my Department on 4 February 1998, and are currently under consideration. I regret that I am not in a position to comment any further at this stage. However, I can assure the Deputy that every effort is being made to process these applications as quickly as possible.
