A judge has criticised the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, and the prison system, asking why he should "bother sentencing criminals at all".
District Judge Gerard Haughton in Limerick had heard that a man he was about to sentence had committed a crime while on temporary release, less than five weeks into a 10 month sentence for another offence.
"Yesterday I had to jail people for non-payment of debts and they have no hope of temporary release. Yet criminals, who have a debt to pay to society, get out on holiday," the judge said.
He blamed the Minister who, he said, was responsible for regulations which had resulted in a scandal and a national disgrace".
The court was told that the defendant, Paul Coffey (19), of Derryfada in Clonlara, Co Clare, was so drunk on July 9th that he hardly knew what he was doing when driving a stolen car without insurance while banned. The judge jailed him for a further 11 months to begin after his current sentence and banned him from driving for 15 years.