Press Statement: Irish Penal Reform Trust response to Parole Board Annual Report 2024
20th October 2025
The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) welcomes the publication of the Parole Board's Annual Report 2024 published on Monday 20 October 2025.
This is the third Annual Report the Board has published since becoming a statutory body.
Saoirse Brady, Executive Director responded to the report: "IPRT welcomes the publication of the Parole Board Annual Report 2024, a body that plays an essential role in our criminal justice system. It is welcome to see an increase in the number of cases considered in 2024 (108) with 76 final decisions issued. Notably, parole was only granted in 14 cases and was refused in 62 cases. However, IPRT notes with concern the delays in decision-making due to delays in receiving reports particularly from the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and the Probation Service. While this is not surprising given the resource constraints experienced by both, this has significant implications for people who apply for parole.”
“While IPRT welcomes that additional staff were sanctioned in 2024, we also note the role that ongoing under-resourcing and understaffing of the Board – as highlighted by an external independent review – plays in terms of processing applications and reaching decisions in a fair and timely manner. This has a negative impact on all concerned – both the parole applicant as well as the victim’s family and loved ones. The resulting delays serve no one and only exacerbate trauma and frustration”.
“The lack of adequate staffing and resourcing also means that it is unlikely that long overdue regulations will be enacted to process parole applications for people serving long sentences other than life sentences. The Board has identified as a risk that the current structure would mean it is unable to support the level of work if its remit were extended to other cohorts. While an eight per cent increase in the Parole Board’s budget for 2026 is welcome, this will come nowhere near what it requires to sufficiently expand to meet demand and deliver on its full remit”.
She continued: “Concerningly, despite repeated calls a case-management system is still not in place and has been identified as a “high level risk” by the Board itself. The fact that the system is currently “reliant on excel spreadsheets, institutional knowledge and individual memory” is not only extremely risky, it is also highly inappropriate in light of the processing of extremely sensitive information and data. While we welcome that work is ongoing between the Parole Board Secretariat and the Department of Justice to establish a system that is fit-for-purpose, adequate resources and a sense of urgency is required to ensure this is delivered as a matter of priority”.
Notes to Editor
- Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) | www.iprt.ie IPRT is Ireland's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of everyone in prison and the progressive reform of Irish penal policy, with prison as a last resort.
- Read the Parole Board's Annual Report for 2024.
- The Parole Board is an independent statutory body that considers applications for parole from people in prison serving life sentences once they have served at least 12 years of their sentence. The Board invites applications for parole from people who have served at least 10.5 years of their life sentence.
- During the period of the Annual Report 2024:
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·108 people's applications for parole were considered (up from 75 people the previous period).
·Fourteen people were granted release on parole (up from eight people in the previous period).
·The Board engaged with 108 applications for parole (up from 95 the previous period).
·The Annual Report indicated it can take 18 months to process an application.
·In almost one out of five cases, the Board recommended Temporary Release or transfer to an open prison (20 cases).
·Seven parole orders were varied and one revoked in 2024.
·The Parole Board held 11 information sessions in prisons across the country in 2024.
- Sentence length - The Parole Act 2019 changed the eligibility for applications for parole from eight years to 12 years with the reason indicated that most are not considered until then and to manage the expectations of people applying for parole. In 2024, amongst those granted parole, the length of time served ranged from 16 to 43 years. At the time of the debate on the Parole Bill 2019, IPRT was concerned that increasing the timeframe for eligibility for parole may disincentivise people to engage with rehabilitative programmes at the earliest possible opportunity as they will not become eligible to apply until 10.5 years into their sentence. IPRT questions whether the current levels of overcrowding are impeding people’s access to rehabilitative services and supports that are necessary for someone’s progression and reform journey and is thereby impacting their opportunity access parole. While the purpose of imprisonment is partially punitive and some argue it acts as deterrent (though evidence is limited), it is also about rehabilitation and reform.
- Parole decisions - In 20 out of 108 final decisions for 2024, the Board recommended Temporary Release (11 cases) or transfer to an open prison (nine cases), down from a total of 36 cases in 2024. This is important for people wanting to progress in their rehabilitation journey in preparation for release. However, there are only two open prisons for men in the State - Shelton Abbey and Loughan House - both almost at capacity. There are none for women. Also, these recommendations are not binding on the Irish Prison Service. Rehabilitation must start on the first day of a sentence. We are concerned that people may not be able to access all of the required services/interventions to help them on their progression journey with current levels of prison overcrowding. For those recommended for transfer to open prison, there may not be any space available.
- IPRT welcomes the engagement with prospective applicants as well as the family of victims to ensure access to justice for all.
