The number of prisoners who will be granted temporary release over the Christmas period has been reduced by more than 100 when compared to last year's number.
Announcing yesterday that 137 prisoners will be allowed varying periods of temporary release this Christmas, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said that this figure represented approximately 4 per cent of the prison population.
"It is a significant reduction on the number released last year, which was 238 prisoners," a statement issued by his department said. "The prisoners being released are coming towards the end of their sentences and the overriding concern when considering the applications was the safety of the public.
"In addition to compassionate and humane considerations, other criteria taken into account include the nature and gravity of the offence, length of sentence served to date, prior record on temporary release, behaviour while in custody and previous criminal history."
Typical periods of release vary from a few hours, with prisoners in some cases accompanied by another responsible person, up to 10 nights.
"All releases are subject to stringent conditions, which in the vast majority of cases includes a requirement to report to his/her local Garda station. Any offender who breaks these conditions may be arrested and returned immediately to prison by the Garda."
Last week, the Irish Prison Service confirmed that a total of seven male prisoners who were granted temporary Christmas release over the past five years remain unlawfully at large.
However, advocates of the Christmas release programme stress that this represents a very small percentage of the total number of individuals released, and that a temporary release programme cannot be completely "risk-averse".
According to the prison service, three of those prisoners were granted temporary release in 2004 and three were released in 2005 from Mountjoy, Portlaoise and the Midlands prisons.
Another prisoner was released from Cork prison in 2003.
All seven remain "unlawfully at large", according to the prison service. Between 2004 and last year, 809 prisoners were released on temporary Christmas leave.