In need of a major Overhaul

A prison committee visiting system which was established more than eighty years ago is quite glaringly in need of an overhaul, especially one which is obviously a vehicle for political grace and favour.

Of the 180 members of the prison visiting committees around the country, at least 60 are either Fianna Fáil or Progressive Democrat members of one shade or another.

The frequency with which any of them might be inclined to drop into the institution within their remit could be dictated to by the fact that many of them are living one hundred miles away.