There are some positive elements in the Bill that I would very much like to vote for and then there are difficulties with it as well. It is very broad and diverse. It would have been much more positive if we had the opportunity to engage with the issues on an individual level and discuss them in detail. We support the proposal on counselling notes. People who have suffered, in particular from sexual assault, should not have their private counselling notes spilled out in a courtroom. The reforms in that regard are a step in the right direction. However, there are some major concerns about the community service aspect of the Bill. One part of this legislation - it is quite clearly outlined - will potentially allow drug dealers, who in some cases would have been considered for a two-year prison sentence, to basically get community service. We wholeheartedly oppose that. It is very clear that the objective here is primarily more to do with prison capacity than the safety of citizens or anything else. The solution of a community service order is because of the fact that prisons are so overcrowded. In 2024, more than 1,000 prisoners were released on temporary release within 24 hours of being sent to prison. In reply to a parliamentary question, the previous Minister, Deputy McEntee, told Aontú that her officials were selecting candidates for early release due to capacity issues in prisons. It is deeply concerning that this is happening. We need to have a serious conversation about it. The Minister must ensure that prison capacity is significantly expanded so that legislation like this is not necessary. The idea of community service being used as a tool to try to alleviate the capacity difficulties in prisons should concern us all. In 2024, some 700 prisoners went missing from the system. By the end of that year, 131 prisoners unlawfully at large were still unaccounted for. It is very worrying as well that currently 66% of prisoners in Ireland are repeat offenders. The system is crumbling and the fact that in some cases people are being released within a day of incarceration is simply not good enough. Prison capacity has an impact on the alarmingly high reoffending rate. It impacts on programmes that should be taking place and in some cases cannot because of the difficulties in the Prison Service. This is a obviously totally unacceptable.

Sentiment score: -0.13