Minister for Justice Helen McEntee plans to have the new Parole Board fully up and running by July 2021.
It's set to be completely independent of whoever is Minister at any given time, a change from the current system of forwarding recommendations to the Minister.
Proposals also include making life sentence prisoners serve 12 years before being able to apply for parole, up from seven years.
Ms McEntee says her Department is currently working on selecting members, appointing staff and choosing an appropriate office space.
The Minister also noted that the development and implementation of a stakeholder communications and engagement plan is an integral part of the implementation process.
“I believe that it is hugely important that all stakeholders, including victims, are kept informed of the progress of the project, and that they understand how the changes will affect them following commencement of the Act.
“I am pleased to say that the project team has now completed a stakeholder mapping exercise and commenced preliminary consultations with some of the key actors.
“A formal plan to include written communications to victims and parole applicants is currently under development.
“I know many victims are waiting on the new Parole Board become fully operational and I am determined this will happen in 2021.
“I am fully committed to establishing the new Board as soon as possible on a statutory footing and to take account of the concerns of victims and survivors. I would be very happy to see a victim’s representative on the Board."
