Parole act 2019

• Enactment Date: 23 July 2019
• Act Number: 28

Number 28 of 2019
PAROLE ACT 2019
CONTENTS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
1. Short title and commencement
2. Interpretation
3. Nomination of family members
4. Regulations
5. Expenses
6. Application of Act
PART 2
The Parole Board
7. Establishment day
8. Establishment of Board
9. Functions of Board
10. Membership of Board
11. Term of appointment of members of Board
12. Resignation, removal, disqualification, ineligibility etc. for office of member of Board
13. Powers of Board
14. Procedures of Board
15. Meetings
16. Liability of Board and chief executive
17. Staff of Board
18. Chief executive of Board
19. Superannuation
20. Accounts and audit
21. Accountability of chief executive to Public Accounts Committee
23. Reports
PART 3
The Parole Process
24. Eligibility for Parole
25. Notification by Irish Prison Service of eligibility for parole
26. Application for parole
27. Decision on parole
28. Parole order
29. Compliance by relevant governor with parole order
30. Refusal of application for parole
31. Variation of parole order
32. Specification of condition attaching to parole order
33. Revocation of parole order
34. Persons unlawfully at large
35. Arrest of person unlawfully at large
36. Consideration of revocation of parole order of person unlawfully at large
PART 4
Miscellaneous
37. Amendment of Criminal Justice Act 2007
38. Amendment of Defamation Act 2009
39. Amendment of Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014
40. Amendment of Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017
41. Amendment of Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017
Acts Referred to
Children Act 2001 (No. 24)
Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24)
Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005
Companies Act 2014 (No. 38)
Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 (No. 8)
Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014 (No. 11)
Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Act 1998 (No. 36)
Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003 (No. 34)
Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 (No. 28)
Criminal Justice Act 1951 (No. 2)
Criminal Justice Act 1960 (No. 27)
Criminal Justice Act 1990 (No. 16)
Criminal Justice Act 2007 (No. 29)
Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 (No. 11)
Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 (No. 2)
Defamation Act 2009 (No. 31)
European Parliament Elections Act 1997 (No. 2)
Firearms Act 1964 (No. 1)
Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (No. 27)
Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (No. 25)
Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (No. 12)
Prisons Act 1970 (No. 11)
Prisons Act 1972 (No. 7)
Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 (No. 33)
Universities Act 1997 (No. 24)
Number 28 of 2019
PAROLE ACT 2019
An Act to provide for the establishment of a body to be known as An Bord Parúil or, in the English language, the Parole Board; to provide for its functions; to amend certain enactments; and to provide for related matters.
[23rd July, 2019]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
		Short title and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Parole Act 2019.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed by order or orders made by the Minister, either generally or by reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes or different provisions.
		Interpretation
2. (1) In this Act—
	“Act of 1960” means the Criminal Justice Act 1960 ;
	“Act of 2001” means the Children Act 2001 ;
	“Act of 2005” means the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 ;
	“Act of 2006” means the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 ;
	“Act of 2007” means the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 ;
	“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;
	“application for parole” has the meaning assigned to it by section 26 (3);
	“Board” means the Parole Board established under section 8 (1);
	“chief executive”, in relation to the Board, has the meaning assigned to it by section 18 (1);
	“child”, other than in the definition of family member, means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years;
	“children detention school” has the meaning it has in section 3(1) of the Act of 2001;
	“civil partner” means a person in a civil partnership or legal relationship to which section 3 of the Act of 2010 applies;
	“cohabitant” means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;
	“designated centre” has the meaning it has in section 1 of the Act of 2006;
	“eligible for parole”, in relation to a person, means eligible for parole in accordance with section 24 ;
	“establishment day” means the day appointed under section 7 ;
	“family member”, in relation to a victim, means—
	(a) a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the victim,
	(b) a child or step-child of the victim,
	(c) a parent or grandparent of the victim,
	(d) a brother, sister, half brother or half sister of the victim,
	(e) a grandchild of the victim,
	(f) an aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the victim, and
	(g) any other person—
	(i) who was dependent on the victim, or
	(ii) who the Board considers had a sufficiently close connection with the victim as to warrant his or her being treated as a family member;
	“governor”, in relation to a prison, means—
	(a) the governor of the prison, or
	(b) a person who is for the time being performing the functions of governor of the prison;
	“Irish Prison Service” means the prison service of the Department of Justice and Equality, which is charged with the management of prisons;
	“legal representative” means a practising solicitor or a practising barrister;
	“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;
	“parole” means the release from prison pursuant to a parole order of a person serving a term of imprisonment prior to the expiry of that term;
	“parole applicant” means a person who has made an application for parole;
	“parolee” means a person who is the subject of a parole order;
	“parole order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 27 (1);
	“prison” means a place of custody administered by or on behalf of the Minister (other than a Garda Síochána station) and includes—
	(a) a place provided under section 2 of the Prisons Act 1970 , and
	(b) a place specified under section 3 of the Prisons Act 1972 ;
	“probation officer” means a person appointed by the Minister to be a probation officer;
	“Probation Service” means those officers of the Minister assigned to perform functions in the part of the Department of State for which the Minister is responsible commonly known by that name;
	“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who is for the time being registered in the register of medical practitioners;
	“psychiatrist” means a medical practitioner who is for the time being registered in the Specialist Division of the register of medical practitioners under the medical specialty of “Psychiatry” or under the medical specialty of “Child and Adolescent Psychiatry”;
	“psychologist” means a person—
	(a) who practices as such,
	(b) who holds a qualification listed opposite the profession of psychologist in the third column of Schedule 3 to the Act of 2005 or a qualification that is a corresponding qualification, within the meaning of section 90 of that Act, to that qualification, and
	(c) following the establishment under section 36 of the Act of 2005 of the register of members of the profession of psychologist, whose name is for the time being entered in that register;
	“register of medical practitioners” means the register of medical practitioners established under section 43 of the Act of 2007;
	“relevant governor”, in relation to a parole applicant or parolee, means—
	(a) where the parole applicant or parolee, as the case may be, is detained in a prison, the governor of the prison where he or she is so detained,
	(b) where the parole applicant or parolee, as the case may be, is on release from prison for a temporary period in accordance with a direction given by the Minister under section 2 of the Act of 1960, the governor of the prison from which he or she is so released, or
	(c) where the parolee is on release from prison on parole, the governor of the prison from which he or she is so released;
	“relevant victim”, in relation to a parole applicant or a parolee, means the victim of the criminal offence in respect of which the parole applicant or the parolee, as the case may be, is serving the sentence of imprisonment to which the application for parole or the parole order, as the case may be, relates;
	“victim” means a natural person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss, which was directly caused by an offence.
	(2) Subject to section 3 , a reference to a victim in this Act shall, where the death of a victim is caused directly by an offence, be construed as a reference to a family member provided that the family member concerned has not been charged with, or is not under investigation for, an offence in connection with the death of the victim.
	(3) In this Act—
	(a) a reference to a person serving a sentence of imprisonment shall be construed as including both—
	(i) a person upon whom a sentence of detention was imposed by a court when he or she was a child where he or she has been transferred to a prison to serve the remainder of the sentence in accordance with section 155 of the Act of 2001, and
	(ii) a person who is released from prison for a temporary period in accordance with a...