§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison transfers to(a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Irish Republic have taken place in each month since October 1994; how many requests for transfer (i) have been rejected and (ii) remain outstanding; and if he will list the prisoners involved in each case. [150]
§ Ms Joyce Quin[holding answer 19 May 1997]: Arrangements for the exact date of transfer of prisoners are an operational matter for the prison concerned. However, the number of applications from prisoners 113W seeking transfer to Northern Ireland approved in each month since October 1994 are given in the following table.
Approval of requests for transfer to Northern Ireland 1994 1995 1996 1997 January — — 1 February — — — March — 4 — April 1 3 1 May — 4 2 June 3 3 July 6 2 August 1 2 September — — October — 2 2 November — — 3 December — 3 1 Since October 1994, 31 requests for transfer to Northern Ireland have been refused.
Twelve requests remain under consideration.
Prisoners repatriated to the Republic of Ireland in each of the following months are given below:
Repatriation to the Republic of Ireland Year Number May 1996 2 November 1996 3 December 1996 2 February 1997 1 March 1997 1 May 1997 1 Three repatriation applications have been refused.
Eighty applications remain under consideration either in England and Wales or in the Republic of Ireland.
It is not normal practice to disclose the personal details of individual prisoners.