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High Court dismisses application for judicial review of decision revoking applicant's temporary release from prison, holding that: (a) a prison governor was not required to carry out an inquiry equivalent to a criminal prosecution or to be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that a prisoner had breached his undertaking to be of good behaviour, so long as the conclusion reached was reasonable and based on objective material; (b) the respondent was entitled to rely on the applicant's admission that he had been trespassing on private property and to place weight on An Garda Síochána's intention to pursue a prosecution; (c) the absence of a verifying affidavit did not present difficulties as there was no relevant factual dispute between the parties but this should not be regarded as a precedent for any other case; and (d) the contention that the proceedings were moot was misconceived as, if the decision to end the temporary release had been made unlawfully, the applicant would have been entitled to relief, even if only of a declaratory nature.
Application for judicial review of decision revoking applicant's temporary release from prison - applicant serving custodial sentences in respect of road traffic offences and offences under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 - initial temporary release for one week and then extended to one month as part of national policy to reduce unnecessary movement and travel of released persons for public health reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic - temporary release cut short after applicant found trespassing on private property - applicant's claim that he was hunting rabbits and there was no intent to commit any criminal offence - informal inquiry conducted by the prison authorities into the alleged incident - applicant returned to prison and placed in quarantine - no verifying affidavit sworn by applicant due to visiting restrictions arising from the pandemic - amendments to temporary release regime by Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003, which converted grants of periodic temporary releases into discrete decisions in respect of each period - meaning of "good behaviour" - meaning of "unlawfully at large" where a condition of the temporary release has not been complied with - whether good behaviour on release confined to a requirement not to breach criminal law - whether there was consideration of whether or not the applicant's admitted trespass was criminal in nature - whether informal inquiry was adequate to justify revoking the decision to release the applicant temporarily - whether the proceedings were moot by reason of the fact that the one-month temporary release would have expired by the time of the hearing in any event.
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