The Minister for Justice has said that four of the 85 prisoners who have been released on the pilot early temporary release scheme have been returned to prison for not complying with conditions.
Alan Shatter told the Dáil that the scheme provides for earned temporary release for offenders who pose no threat to society in return for supervised community service.
He was responding to Fianna Fáil's Dara Calleary, who asked the minister for a guarantee that no prisoner who posed a safety risk would be released.
The minister said the media coverage had misrepresented the scheme.
Minister Shatter said the suggestion in some quarters that 1,200 prisoners would be out on release at any one time was wrong.
He said that a maximum of 150 prisoners would be engaged in the scheme.
Over the three-year life of the plan, up to 1,200 prisoners will participate.
The minister said there would be a review of the project upon completion of the pilot and he added that the view at the moment was that the scheme was working.
Mr Calleary called for families of victims to be involved in the consultation around pre-release.
Mr Shatter gave an undertaking that no individual who poses a risk to the community would be released under the scheme.
