It was inappropriate that a politician should have the ultimate say on whether a prisoner should be granted parole, Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan told the Dáil.

“Prisoners who seek parole and citizens are entitled to know the basis on which it is being granted,” he added.

Mr O’Callaghan was moving his party’s Private Members’ Parole Bill 2016 establishing the Parole Board on a statutory basis. Responsibility for granting parole would be transferred to it from the Minister for Justice, he said.He added that it was important to have in place an independent, transparent and statutory- based scheme that set out how and when a person was granted parole.

The Bill was accepted by the Government. This would be preferable to leaving the decision to the discretion of a politician who might be swayed by factors outside of what was necessary for the good of society and prisoner rehabilitation, he added.

Clear criteria

Mr O’Callaghan said there would be clear criteria for the granting of parole, with the victims of crime having a say in the process. He said he was pleased the Bill had received general support from the Irish Penal Reform Trust and the board.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the Bill was comprehensive and, while the Government would not oppose it at second stage, it contained a number of points which might benefit from further consideration. She said establishing the board on a statutory basis had been a policy objective for some time and was, therefore, not something the Government wished to oppose in principle.

Recommendations to put the board on a statutory basis had been made by the Law Reform Commission and by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in a report on penal reform in 2013, Ms Fitzgerald added.