merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Ms. Frances Fitzgerald,
T.D. today published the Annual Report of the Parole Board for 2015.

The Tánaiste said "Once again I would like to thank the Chairman, Mr John
Costello and the members of the Board for their report. The Parole Board
plays a vital role which is much valued and appreciated. In particular, I
would like to acknowledge the work of the Board in helping to encourage all
eligible prisoners to participate in the parole process."

The Board's principal function is to advise the Minister on the
administration of long term prison sentences in respect of prisoners who
are serving sentences greater than seven years. The Board, by way of
recommendation to the Minister, advises of the prisoner's progress to date,
the degree to which the prisoner has engaged with the various therapeutic
services and how best to proceed with the future administration of the
sentence. All recommendations are considered in full when making the final
decision on sentence management.

As highlighted in their report, the total caseload of the Board has
increased from 339 in 2014 to 352 in 2015 - a combination of new cases and
cases at second or subsequent review stage. The Board report that they
reviewed 97 cases in 2015.

The report is available on the Department's website www.justice.ie