Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 November 2022
899. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons (details supplied) who have been repatriated from Ireland to locations around the world for the past five years; the countries to which they were repatriated, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55578/22]
View answer901. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons (details supplied) who have been repatriated from locations around the world to Ireland for the past five years; the countries from which they were repatriated, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55611/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 899 and 901 together.
As the Deputy may be aware, the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons provides the current mechanism through which a person may seek a transfer of their prison sentence to or from Ireland. The legislative basis for the operation of the Convention between Ireland and other parties to the Convention has been transposed into national law in the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts, 1995 and 1997. The Convention is open to States outside Europe and the Government supports the Council of Europe policy of encouraging states to ratify and operate the Convention.
The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts, 1995 and 1997 provides that a person may apply to the Minister for a transfer, and the Minister may grant such an application where:
(a) the person is regarded by the other state as a national of that State for the purposes of the Convention
(b) that the order under which the sentence concerned was imposed on the sentenced person is final
(c) there is at least six months’ left to serve
(d) the person consents
(e) the conduct constituting the offence would be a crime in the other state
(f) the other state agrees.
However, other factors may be considered by the Minister and it should be noted that even where all of the conditions are satisfied, a State is not obliged to comply with a transfer request.
The transfer process is administered on my behalf by the Irish Prison Service.
I have been informed by my officials in the Prison Service that since 2018 there have been a total of 66 outward transfer applications and 17 prisoners have transferred out of this jurisdiction since 2018. Table 1 provides a breakdown of the number of prisoners transferred to date by jurisdiction and by year of transfer.
There are various reasons why an application may be refused or not completed, including that the application does not meet the criteria, the application is withdrawn, or is refused due to reduction in sentence arising from difference in the application of remission rates in the receiving State.
Table 1 - Outward Transfers Completed
|
- |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Total |
|
UK |
3 |
- |
4 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
|
Sweden |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
|
Netherlands |
1 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
2 |
|
Germany |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
|
Romania |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
3 |
|
Total |
4 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
17 |
