Debate contribution: Prisons: Compassionate Temporary Release
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 28 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Prisons: Compassionate Temporary Release
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5762053
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for what is a supplementary to the original question. I am more than happy to answer questions that are genuine supplementaries. When it comes to the issue of lessons learned, there was, of course, an immediate review of those proceedings. We have established the timeline and a number of communication errors. To correct the Member, however, the officials concerned were not my departmental legal officials; they were from the Departmental Solicitor's Office (DSO), which resides within the Department of Finance. As the Member will be aware, however, unlike him, I will not be reaching any conclusions before the urgent review that I have commissioned is undertaken. In this case, there were a number of failings that, I believe, went beyond simply the communication from the legal team. Whilst that was one of the failings that we have identified thus far, it is not the only failing. I will, of course, keep the House updated on the progress of the review. We are in the process of agreeing the terms of reference and notifying other Ministers and other public officials who may be affected by the review, as well as identifying the precise nature of the individuals who will take the review forward. As I said last week, however, I do not intend this to be a lengthy process, but I do intend it to be a robust and thorough one.
234 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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