McDowell backtracks on prison inspectorate
The minister yesterday confirmed that, following recent legal advice, he no longer intended to set up the office under new prison rules which he published earlier this year.
He said he now intended to bring in an amendment to the Prisons Bill to set up the body and had received Cabinet approval to do so.
The minister was subjected to ferocious criticism from the prison inspector for attempting to set up the office under the prison rules.
Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen slammed the minister’s behaviour as “outrageous and unbelievable” in his recent annual report. The report was submitted to the minister some months ago and published by the Department of Justice last week.
In the report, Mr Kinlen said it was “totally inappropriate” to set up his office through the prison rules, saying it would not make his office independent of the Government.
Mr Kinlen said he had since been informed by a civil servant from the department that the section had been removed from the prison rules.
The Department of Justice yesterday confirmed that a new method had been decided upon.
“The minister has recently received Government approval to introduce an amendment to the Prisons Bill 2005, to provide for a statutory basis in primary legislation for the Office of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention,” said a spokesman.
He said the amendment would be published in the very near future.
“The enactment of the Prisons Bill 2005, which is currently before the Seanad, is a priority for the minister and he hopes to see it complete its passage through both the Seanad and Dáil without any undue delay.”
Asked why the decision had been made to remove the proposal from the prison rules, the spokesman said: “Recent legal advice indicates that the most prudent approach would be for the provision of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention on a statutory basis by way of primary legislation”.
The move may help cool relations between Mr McDowell and Mr Kinlen, who made repeated and strident criticisms of both the minister and his department in his hard-hitting report.
Last weekend, the minister hit back by accusing the inspector of having “private agendas” and claimed Mr Kinlen had been trying to get him to give him enhanced pension rights by virtue of his service.
In turn, Mr Kinlen described the minister’s remarks as “completely untrue and absolutely outrageous” and said they appeared to be defamatory.
