Support for prisoners after release
Keating asks about helping former prisoners access social welfare or other support during the weeks after release. The Minister agrees the issue is under examination but says it is too early to give a decision date.
I am sure the Minister would agree that the most difficult period is immediately after release. Would the Minister consider trying to facilitate the return to public life of the ex-prisoner, particularly from the point of view of his entitlement to social welfare benefits or assistance of some kind? Part of the problem is that the ex-inmate has no funds of any kind for a number of weeks.
Comment on this
I accept the validity of the suggestion put forward by Deputy Keating. This is something that is causing us concern and which we are examining at present. We fully realise the importance of having a firm base, as it were, for the person released from prison.