Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021
358. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Justice when she plans to publish the criminal justice (mutual recognition of custodial sentences) Bill which is on the priority legislation list for publishing this term; if this Bill will facilitate the transfer of prisoners to and from the UK as well as to and from the EU; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35762/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA of 27 November 2008 relates to the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the European Union. Legislation to transpose Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA is being progressed and is on the most recent Government Legislative Programme Priority List for publication.
The Deputy will wish to be aware that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice has notified me that Pre-Legislative Scrutiny was completed on the Bill on 29 June. It is my intention to bring the Bill to Government for approval before the summer recess and once approved I will publish it.
Ireland currently operates the 1983 Council of Europe Convention (as amended), which provides that individuals convicted of an offence in another Convention state, and for which they have received a custodial sentence, may be transferred to the state in which they are normally resident to serve that sentence. The 1983 convention is provided for by the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995, under which the consent of the sentenced person is required before a transfer can take place.
The Framework Decision extends the circumstances in which a person may be transferred back to their resident EU Member State to serve a custodial sentence imposed in another EU Member State. Under the Framework Decision the consent of the sentenced person and the executing state will not be required under specific circumstances, including where the transfer is to their Member State of nationality where they lived prior to detention. When transposed this will be a separate mechanism to that which currently exists under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Convention and will replace those arrangements for transferring sentenced persons between EU Member States.
The Deputy will be aware that significant issues have arisen in respect of inward prisoner transfers, most notably from the United Kingdom. While the Bill [in respect of the Framework Decision] will address these issues for EU transfers, it does not, as it stands, alter the position for other Convention states.
After Brexit, UK transfers do not fall under the Framework Decision and will continue to take place under the Convention and existing 1995 Act. Work is continuing on amendments to the Convention regime, and it is the intention to seek Government approval to progress these necessary changes by way of amendments to the current Bill.
