Irish Episcopal Conference

Lobbying Organisation Irish Episcopal Conference

Date published 20 May, 2025

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Justice and Equality

Period 1 Jan, 2025 to 30 Apr, 2025

Specific Details Policy regarding Irish people in prison overseas in particular those seeking to transfer their sentence to an Irish prison and those seeking to return while on licence. 1) Seeking to progress the current situation with regard to Irish people released on licence in the UK. 2) Seeking to progress the repatriation of Irish prisoners overseas who wish to return to Ireland to serve their sentence. 3) Requesting a meeting with the Minister to progress these issues.

Intended results 1) Meeting with the Minister to outline our concerns regarding Irish people imprisoned abroad and those wishing to return home to serve their sentence or while released on licence 2) Policy change to allow the few Irish people wishing to return to Ireland while on licence from the UK to do so. 3) Improvements to current process to make it quicker and more efficient thus enabling transfers of Irish prisoners back to Ireland close to their families.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Ms Leslie Alcock, Coordinator, Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO)

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)

Letter sent by Ms Leslie Alcock to Minister for Justice, Mr Jim O'Callaghan TD Letter received from Minister’s Office in reply to letter sent by Leslie Alcock

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.

Jim O'Callaghan Minister (Department of Justice)