The Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, has criticised a recent RTE series which focused on criminals in Mountjoy "but made no mention of the crimes that put them behind bars." The tendency was to feel sympathy for them, she said, "but, surely, we need to know what they did."
Speaking on a visit to the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency, she said yesterday that efforts to tackle crime were being hindered by a "near obsession with the rights of the criminal."
The PDs had never advocated a "lock'em up and throw away the key" approach, Ms Harney said, but they wanted a balance to be struck between the rights of criminals and the rights of their victims.
