A survey by the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) has recommended that the Government provide an allowance to Irish citizens in prisons abroad.
It also recommended that a visitation allowance be given to families so they can keep contact with such prisoners.
The recommendations were announced by Bishop of Derry Dr Séamus Hegarty, chairman of the Irish Bishops' Commission for Emigrants, at a conference in Dublin yesterday. It was held to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the ICPO.
One of its founding members was President Mary McAleese who was unable to attend due to illness, though she did meet families of prisoners abroad in a meeting at Áras an Úachtaráin before going to the hospital.
Bishop Hegarty said the ICPO is the only organisation working on behalf of Irish prisoners overseas and their families and it commissioned the survey last year. It was conducted by the Bishops' Council for Research and Development and 44 prisoner families took part.
It also recommended that fact sheets on prison and legal systems in relevant countries be prepared for families. It further recommended that an annual "family day" be set aside "to take pressure off families and children of prisoners overseas".
It called on the Government to fulfil its obligations under the programme for prosperity and fairness "to undertake research to identify the number of Irish prisoners abroad and their needs for services in prisons".
Bishop Hegarty said prosperity had extended the range of countries people travelled to and, consequently, the number of countries in which Irish people were incarcerated.
"It is in our advantage to develop good bilateral agreements with these countries in order that people can consider, as a basic human right, the option of serving their sentence in Ireland. I am horrified when I learn of the conditions in some countries."
In an address to the conference Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin said: "The person in prison is deprived of his or her liberty but not of his or her dignity. Every human being possesses an innate dignity and that dignity is not lost, even when they fail, even when they offend, even if they represent wounded humanity, even when their behaviour can justly be described as depraved."