Irish Penal Reform Trust

Lobbying Organisation Irish Penal Reform Trust

Date published 21 May, 2020

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Justice and Equality

Period 1 Jan, 2020 to 30 Apr, 2020

Specific Details Mental health and the prison system

Intended results Establish a cross-departmental task force on mental health and imprisonment Address the increasing use of remand (pre-trial) detention through analysis of data and provision of bail supports Promote the use of community sanctions as an alternative to imprisonment for less serious offending Access to single-cell occupancy across the prison estate and comprehensive cell-sharing risk assessment

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Fíona Ní Chinnéide, Executive Director

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (1)

In October 2019, IPRT launched its third 'Progress in the Penal System 2019' report on human rights and best practice in Ireland’s penal system. In a letter to the Minister for Justice, IPRT set out the relevance of the findings and recommended actions, and our concerns that prison is being used to accommodate people due to a lack of appropriate community-based responses. IPRT underlined the need for urgent whole-of-Government action to ensure that no one is in prison due to a lack of housing, supported housing, or health services in the community. IPRT further detailed a number of actions set out in the PIPS 2019 report that would support progress towards addressing the issues.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Charles Flanagan Minister (Department of Justice and Equality)