Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2024
471. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Justice if she is satisfied that the maximum effort is being made by her Department to fully utilize the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995 to return any convicted criminals to their own countries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21814/24]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995 implements the 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons in Ireland.
The Convention provides the current mechanism through which non-nationals serving sentences in Ireland may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in their own countries, where those countries are party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and are not EU Member States. Similarly, Irish people who are imprisoned overseas in such countries may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in Ireland.
The policy of the Convention, which is based on humanitarian considerations, is to overcome the difficulties posed for people serving sentences in foreign jurisdictions, such as absence of contact with relatives and differences in languages and culture. In this regard, it has been long established Government policy that, whenever possible, prisoners should be permitted to serve their sentences in their own country.
A transfer may be requested by either the state in which the sentence was imposed (the sentencing state) or the state of which the sentenced person is a national (the administering state) and is subject to the consent of those two states, as well as the consent of the sentenced person.
The Convention sets out six prerequisites for transfers, which are mirrored in the 1995 Act:
(i) The sentenced person must be a national of the state to which the transfer is sought;(ii) The order or judgement on foot of which the sentence was imposed must be final;(iii) At the time of the application, there must be at least six months of the sentence remaining to be served;(iv) The act or omission constituting the offence must also constitute an offence in the administering state;(v) The sentenced person must consent to the transfer;(vi) and both the sentencing state and the administering state must consent to the transfer.
The Convention does not confer an automatic right to transfer, nor does it impose an obligation on either state to agree to a transfer request. All requests are decided upon following preparation of reports from several agencies, and require the consent of all three parties (the person, the sentencing state and the administering state) to proceed and, as I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, applications of this nature are complex and require legal assessment on a case-by-case basis.
While the Convention does not require that reasons must be given for refusal, the 1995 Act provides that, where practicable and not legally precluded, a statement specifying the grounds for refusal will be provided to the sentenced person or requesting state, as appropriate.
I can assure the Deputy that the Government supports the Council of Europe policy of encouraging states to ratify and operate the Convention. I am advised by officials in the Irish Prison Service, who are the competent body for the administration of the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts, that there are currently 30 applications for outward transfer from Irish prisons currently in various stages of processing.
I can also assure the Deputy that applications made under the 1983 Convention receive the necessary attention and are progressed as quickly as possible. However, due to the complexity of the documentation required to effect a transfer between other states and Ireland, the process of information exchange can take significant time to complete.
Information regarding the opportunity to apply for a transfer abroad is contained in the Prisoner Information booklet which all people committed to custody receive and is also shown on the Prisoner In-cell TV channel.
The Deputy will also be aware that the Criminal Justice (Mutual Recognition of Custodial Sentences) Act 2023 was signed into law on 1 March 2023 and was commenced on 3 May 2023. Alongside transposing EU Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA, which supersedes the Convention in respect of intra-EU prisoner transfers, it also amended the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts in respect of transfers under the Convention to address legal issues arising with inward transfer requests in particular.
