At present, the provisions of the Parole Act 2019 apply to those serving a sentence of imprisonment for life. Section 24(3) of the Parole Act 2019 provides that the Minister may introduce regulations prescribing eligibility criteria for applications for parole for those serving long-term fixed sentences. To date, no such regulations have been made.
The Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024 contains a commitment to examine the policy base to allow for the introduction of the regulations necessary to determine eligibility for parole for those serving long-term fixed sentences under the statutory Parole Board.
Policy work on these regulations commenced in Quarter 4 of 2023. In advance of the regulations being developed, it should be noted that all those serving sentences of 8 years will not necessarily become eligible to apply for parole (subject to serving a portion of the sentence yet to be set). The Parole Act 2019 makes clear that the regulations will prescribe a term regarding eligibility that can be no lower than 8 years, but this is a minimum point provided for under this legislation, and the Minister is under no obligation to set this as the point of eligibility. The minimum sentence length could be considerably longer, and will be subject to policy analysis.
This policy work is at an early stage but I can assure the Deputy that matters relating to the staff and resource implications of any changes will be examined in the course of this process.
