Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023
698. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice how many prisoners have been granted probation, but due to an inability of community-based probation teams to facilitate early release, have instead remained in prison, by institution, in each the past ten years in tabular form. [40163/23]
View answerProbation supervision is only one factor which is taken into account when a prisoner applies for temporary release.
Decisions regarding temporary release are made by me as Minister for Justice or on my behalf by designated senior officials in the Irish Prison Service. The legislative basis for temporary release is set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003. All applications for temporary release are assessed on a case-by-case basis. It is important to note that the safety of the public is paramount when decisions on temporary release are being made.
Before a final determination is made a number of factors are taken into account including -
• the nature and gravity of the offence to which the sentence relates
• the sentence concerned and any recommendation made by the Court in relation to the sentence imposed
• the person's previous criminal record
• the potential threat to the safety and security of the public should the person be released
• the risk that the person might commit an offence during any period of temporary release
• the risk of the person failing to comply with any of the conditions of temporary release
• any report or recommendation made by a Governor, the Probation Service or An Garda Síochána.
The tabular information requested by the Deputy is not available and the retrieval of same would require the examination of thousands of individual records by the Irish Prison Service.
The Probation Service will always endeavour to meet requests for supervised temporary release made by the Irish Prison Service and regularly reviews its caseload capacity in an effort to meet such requests
