TD defends query over release for drug dealer
Bernard Durkan said his question was part of a long-running campaign by him to throw light on the workings of the Prison Service.
The Kildare North politician said the Prison Service was not consistent in how it operated schemes like temporary release, transfers from closed to open prisons, and access to rehabilitative or training programmes.
He said everyone in prison was “entitled to equal treatment without exception”, unless their behaviour in prison necessitated otherwise or because they were dangerous.
Mr Durkan put down a parliamentary question asking Alan Shatter, the justice minister and his party colleague, if compassionate release for the First Communion celebration of a child would be offered to a particular person. It subsequently emerged that the person in question was Kildare man Francis Hynes jailed for seven years in May 2009 for his part in one of the biggest ever heroin seizures.
The seizure of 16kg, worth over €3m, in Louth in Dec 2007 was the result of an international operation, including Dutch police, the PSNI, and gardaí.
In his reply, Mr Shatter said: “I am informed by the Irish Prison Service that the person referred to applied for temporary release to attend his niece’s First Communion in Mar 2012. The application was refused at that time and no new application has been submitted for consideration.”
The minister added: “I have also been advised that the person referred to has a current remission date in July 2014 and is serving a sentence for a serious drug offence. There are no plans to consider temporary release at this time.”
Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Mr Durkan said he had been asking questions about the prison system for the last 25-30 years.
“This question is part of a whole series of questions, over a long number of years, inquiring into procedures in the Prison Service.”
He said issues raised include early releases, temporary releases, transfers to open prisons and access to rehabilitation and training courses.
The Dáil records show Mr Durkan asked Mr Shatter on the transfer of Garda killer Martin McDermott from a closed prison to an open prison, from which he absconded.
“Many questions ask on what basis are people released, why are they are released, who determines?”
He said these questions, including the one specific to Mr Hynes, were “legitimate questions”. He said all the procedures in the Prison Service should operate “above board and in a regulated fashion”, but said he did not believe they did.
Mr Durkan said everyone was entitled to compassionate grounds and human rights: “Everyone in prison is entitled to equal treatment without exception, unless due to their behaviour in prison or they are considered dangerous prisoners.”
