A Tipperary man plans to establish a pressure group to ensure offenders sentenced to life in jail should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives.
Mr Donal Kealy's daughter, Catherine, was murdered in Thurles almost nine years ago. He now calls on the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to ensure life sentences should mean imprisonment for life and not just for seven years plus.
This follows what Mr Kealy claims was the temporary release of his daughter's murderer for some hours during Christmas.
He has called for the establishment of a pressure group to ensure life sentences mean life imprisonment.
"A life sentence to me is a joke. When you take a life, you hand out so many life sentences. You destroy families, you take the joy out of people's lives. They [offenders] can be up in the lap of luxury and walking the streets after seven years. That is what a life sentence is in Ireland, seven years plus," said Mr Kealy.
He has been in contact with other families with plans for setting up a group to lobby the Minister on the severity of life sentences.
"Because our family is very angry, I would be saying to the Minister that a life sentence should mean life from day one," said Mr Kealy.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the Department did not make comments on any individual cases. He said there were long-established procedures in place in relation to the administration and eventual release of life and long-term prisoners.
A person serving a life or long-term sentence may have their sentences reviewed by the Sentence Review Group (SRG), a non-statutory body which advises Ministers in relation to long-term prison sentences.
The SRG reviews cases of seven years or more (excluding those for capital murder) and makes recommendations to the Minister on "how best to proceed with the future administration of that offender's sentence". The spokesman emphasised the rehabilitative side of the prison system.
Speaking about the temporary release of his daughter's killer, Mr Kealy said: "This was one of our worst Christmases." He thought his daughter's killer was still serving his sentence in Limerick Prison. "I rang on the Friday morning before Christmas hoping to hear that he was still there . . . I wanted to ensure that he was in jail for Christmas, but not just for Christmas but for the rest of his life".
Mr Kealy found out his daughter's killer had been moved to the Training Unit at Mountjoy some time last year.
"On Christmas Eve, I rang Mountjoy jail to tell them of my feelings and was told that he would be out from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Christmas Day. I was stunned when I was told that he would be out for a couple of hours," said Mr Kealy.
He has written to successive ministers for justice highlighting his grievances and worries in relation to his case, but feels his concerns are being ignored.
Mr Kealy says a letter he forwarded to the Minister last year seemed "to have fallen on deaf ears" because he had not received a response.
The Department of Justice said it did not receive Mr Kealy's letter, but emphasised that if a copy was sent in the near future, a response would be issued immediately.