Victims’ advocates slam lack of representation on Parole Board

A victims’ group has criticised the lack of victim representation on the Parole Board after two candidates it put forward for nomination failed to be appointed by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

The Parole Board assesses prisoners who are entitled to be considered for release — those serving a sentence of eight years or more — and makes recommendations to the justice minister.

People serving these sentences have committed serious crimes such as homicide, rape and drug-trafficking.

Advocates for Victims of Homicide (Advic) criticised the absence of a victim’s voice on the board, which has seven representatives from the community.

The development puts the spotlight again on the make-up of the Parole Board and the ministerial appointment process.

Earlier this month, the Irish Examiner reported that the retired representative of the Prison Service on the board had been re-appointed by Mr Shatter as one of the community representatives.

It is understood that Advic has not received any official correspondence from the Department of Justice regarding the appointments and learned their candidates had not been accepted from a member of the public.

“We’re disappointed that victims’ groups are not represented on the Parole Board, not that we weren’t necessarily, but that none are,” said Advic spokeswoman Joan Dean.

One of Advic’s nominees was Annie Mulvaney, co-founder and current secretary. She is mother of Brian Mulvaney, who was beaten to death in 2000 by Brian Willoughby, who was on bail for three assaults at the time.

Their other nominee was John O’Keeffe, director of the Institute of Criminology and Policing Studies, City Colleges and visiting professor in the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin.

“In the interests of balance we would have thought it quite appropriate to have a victims’ group represented,” said Ms Dean.

The Parole Board has 12 members, with a chairperson and representatives of the Department of Justice, the Prison Service and the Parole Board. There are seven representatives of the community.

A department spokeswoman said while the minister considered the individuals nominated by Advic, he decided to appoint four others as community representatives.