Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2023
389. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Justice the progress with regard to the application by a person (details supplied) to move from a prison in Britain home to Ireland, in order to be closer to his family, where their father is extremely ill; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44889/23]
View answerI am advised by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that no application has been received by them from the named person. My officials in the Irish Prison Service have consulted their counterparts in the United Kingdom who have confirmed that they have received an application from the named person and that they are currently processing this application for onward transfer to the Irish Prison Service. Once the application is received by the Irish Prison Service they will commence processing without delay.
The Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, implemented in Ireland by the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts 1995 to 2023, provides a mechanism whereby nationals of countries who are party to the Convention and who are serving sentences in Ireland may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in their own countries. Similarly, Irish persons who are imprisoned overseas in Convention countries may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in Ireland.
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. There are over sixty states operating the Convention at present.
The policy of the Convention, which is based on humanitarian considerations, is to overcome the difficulties posed for prisoners serving sentences in foreign jurisdictions, such as absence of contact with relatives and differences in languages and culture. In this regard, it has been long established Government policy that, whenever possible, prisoners should be permitted to serve their sentences close to their families.
The Convention provides a procedural framework for such transfers and seeks to provide a simple and relatively expeditious mechanism whereby the repatriation of sentenced persons may take place. The Convention sets out six conditions which must be fulfilled if a transfer is to be affected and these conditions are also set out in the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts1995 to 2023. It should be noted, however, that, even where all of the conditions are satisfied, there is no obligation on a state to consent to a transfer request. While the Convention does not require that the requested state give reasons for a refusal to agree to a transfer, the Irish legislation provides that, where practicable and where the interests of justice do not so preclude, a statement specifying the grounds for the refusal will be provided to the applicant or requesting state as appropriate.
The conditions which must be met are that:
• The sentenced person seeking a transfer is regarded as a national of the state to which the transfer is sought (the administering state);
• The order or judgement under which the sentenced person was sentenced is final;
• There is, at the time of the receipt of the request for transfer, at least six months of the sentence remaining to be served;
• The sentenced person consents to the transfer;
• The act or omission constituting the offence would also constitute an offence in the administering State; and
• Both states consent to the transfer.
Due to the complexity of the documentation required to affect a transfer between other States and Ireland, the process of information exchange can be time consuming.
Where a sentenced person is seeking to transfer into this country, legal confirmation is obtained from the State’s legal officers that the offence for which the sentence is being served would also constitute an offence under Irish law. When all parties have consented to a transfer, an application is made to the High Court for the issue of a warrant authorising the bringing of the sentence person into the State and authorising his or her detention to await the making of a committal order for the continued enforcement of the sentence in the Sate.
Every effort is made to process each application as quickly as possible, once the three-way consent between the two states and the sentenced person is forthcoming.
