Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 April 2018
37. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the prisoner transfer system; the number of prisoners seeking a transfer; his plans to bring forth legislation to deal with the Supreme Court ruling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16533/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI understand the reason for the suspension of the transfer of sentenced persons, which is due to the High Court and Supreme Court judgments of the past few years, but I do not understand the reason for such a prolonged delay in resolving the matter. I appreciate that this is complex and legislative or administrative changes may be necessary. The problem is now several years old and both the prisoners and their families do not see an end in sight right now. Will the Minister please provide an update on his attempts to resolve the matter?
I recently published the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Annual Report 2017 on my Department's website and laid the report before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This report outlines Ireland's operation of the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts during 2017. In July 2016 the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal in the case of O'Farrell, McDonald, Rafferty v. The Governor of Portlaoise Prison. The case concerned an appeal taken by the State against a judgment of the High Court ordering the release of the three named prisoners who had been transferred to Ireland from the UK under the provisions of the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners Acts 1995 to 1997. The judgment is detailed and has complex implications for the process of transferring prisoners from other states, and in particular the UK, to Ireland.
As of 11 April 2018 there are 29 applications on hold following the Supreme Court judgment and 23 of these applications are from the UK. The principal issue in the judgment is the significantly different sentencing systems that operate in the UK and in this State. In particular, the judgment raises the issue of how best to adapt and administer under Irish law a foreign sentence that contains features not found in Irish sentences. This is important, as it is not possible to operate a prisoner transfer system where there is uncertainty on the part of either the transferring or receiving State as to the length of sentence to be served by the prisoner concerned.
The complex legal and administrative implications of this judgment are being examined by my Department in consultation with the Attorney General's office. Detailed legal advice has been received and an amendment of the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners Acts will be required. Work is under way on drafting that amendment and I will bring a proposal to the Government as soon as possible. In the meantime I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that all the applicants and officials in the appropriate sentencing states have been informed of the situation.
As I understand it, if a prisoner applied for repatriation before July 2016, the prisoner should have received a letter from the Irish Prison Service advising of the current situation and indicating that the application is on hold. However, if a prisoner applied for repatriation after July 2016, no processing of the application has taken place. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong about that. Given the substantial backlog in applications, will the Minister confirm if there has been a complete suspension of any and all activities in the processing of these applications?
A family has been in contact with me which has a son in prison in Australia. That family is seriously upset and frustrated but they made a very sensible proposal.
It is that, while we are waiting for the legislation to be amended, all necessary steps in respect of paperwork and other tasks to facilitate transfers should continue to be processed as far as possible. This would speed up the transfer of prisoners when the suspension is eventually lifted as many administrative and other tasks that can be done in the meantime will be completed and fully up to date. It would also let the prisoners and their families know they are not being abandoned and there is some hope.
There are 29 applications on hold from applicants wishing to transfer to Ireland to serve the remainder of their sentences within this jurisdiction. These applications include 17 from the UK, four from Northern Ireland, two from Australia, which I think is one of the two of interest to the Deputy, one from France, two from Scotland and three from Spain. On the basis of legal advice received, let me assure the Deputy that we are examining those applications made by prisoners in countries other than the United Kingdom. Sentences imposed there may not require adaption. This examination is ongoing. I understand it includes the specific case referred to by Deputy Wallace. The examination will be completed as soon as possible and I would be happy to engage bilaterally with the Deputy on the case he referred to.
I thank the Minister and will make contact with him. The Department previously indicated that the necessary legislative changes would be considered in the context of the European Union framework decision 2008/909/JHA which governs the transfer of prisoners between EU member states. The heads of a Bill to transpose the framework decision has been approved since 2013 but has not been brought before the Dáil. Is there progress on this? We agree this is a human rights issue. The argument for encouraging the transfer of sentenced persons has a strong basis in international human rights law. One of the main reason for the transfer of prisoners is to prevent others from being punished for someone else's crime, namely the parents. As can be imagined, if a person is in jail in Australia it is incredibly harsh on the parents. They can never see their child, irrespective of what he or she has done. The person is serving time in prison for what he or she has done but the parents should not be punished as well. I am glad of the Minister's point about making contact and I look forward to doing that.
The Deputy will appreciate that the principle underpinning the convention is that once the transfer takes place the home jurisdiction manages the sentencing according to its laws. I refer to how we manage our prisoners here and those transferred back or into this jurisdiction in accordance with Irish law. The policy of the convention, which is based on humanitarian considerations, is to overcome difficulties that might be posed for prisoners serving sentences in foreign jurisdictions. I refer to such difficulties as the absence of contact with relatives and differences in language and culture that may apply from time to time. In this respect, it has long been established Government policy that, whenever possible, prisoners should be permitted to serve their sentences close to their families. I ask the Deputy to appreciate that there are some complex legal and administrative issues here which arose on the decision of the courts. We are working through them and I would be happy to keep the House informed on progress on this issue.
