§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many prisoners in England and Wales have requested transfer to (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland; how many qualified in terms of length of sentence and other criteria; what is the average time taken to consider and approve a request; and how many prisoners were transferred in the past 12 months. [HL1400]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalIn 2003, 17 prisoners applied for repatriation to the Republic of Ireland. Of these, one application was refused, 12 applications met the normal repatriation criteria and have been referred to the Irish Government for consideration, and four applications remain under consideration by HM Prison Service.
No application for repatriation to the Republic of Ireland submitted during this period has yet been approved. The average time taken by the British authorities from receipt of the application to referral to the Irish authorities was 119 days.
Twenty prisoners who submitted applications prior to 2003 had their requests approved last year. Of these, six prisoners were repatriated and 14 prisoners are awaiting removal by the Irish authorities.
In the same year, 25 prisoners applied for transfer to Northern Ireland. Of these, five applications were withdrawn, five were refused, and two prisoners were released before their applications could be determined, seven applications have been referred to the Northern Ireland authorities and five remain under consideration by HM Prison Service. One application was approved. This application took 74 days from submission of the application to approval of the request.
One prisoner whose application was submitted prior to 2003 was transferred during this period, a further six prisoners have had their requests approved and are awaiting a place in a Northern Ireland prison.