I am aware of the comments to which the Deputy is referring.
It has not been the practice, however, to comment on statements made by judges in court and I do not propose to depart from the practice followed by my predecessors in that regard. Comments that may be made by members of the Judiciary outside of the courtroom setting would be a different matter.
I do, of course, recognise that the protection of potential victims of crime is one of my primary responsibilities as Minister for Justice. I am, therefore, particularly aware of the need, when considering individual prisoners for temporary release, to be fully cognisant of the potential risk to the public arising in each case. All releases are carefully vetted in this regard. It would be less than frank, however, not to recognise, as I have done on many occasions, that for several years, but especially the past ten years or so the shortage of prison accommodation has significantly increased the pressure to grant early release to prisoners. That is why I decided, with Government approval, to give priority to a major prisons expansion and development programme which will involve a total expenditure in the region of £135 million by the end of 1999 and will see available prison places increased by 35 per cent — about 800 places — by that time.