Parliamentary Question: Prisoner Transfers

26th March 2002

411. Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason Ireland did not sign the review condition in regard to the Council of Europe Convention in relation to the transfer of sentenced persons; the plans his Department has to change this position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9806/02]
 
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue): Article 9.3 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons provides that the enforcement of the sentence upon transfer shall be governed by the law of the administering State, namely the receiving State, and that that State alone shall be competent to take all appropriate decisions in this regard. This includes, for instance, the rules relating to remission and eligibility for conditional release.

Article 13 of the Convention provides that the sentencing State alone shall have the right to decide on any application for review of the judgment. Ireland accepted this article when the convention was ratified in July 1995 and there is no other review condition in the convention which Ireland has yet to sign. The explanatory report of the convention states that the exclusive competence of the sentencing State to review the judgment is justified by the fact that, technically speaking, review proceedings are not part of enforcement of sentence.