The brother of a woman who was murdered along with her daughters in 2008 says the new Parole Board should include victims' families.
The board will operate independently of the Justice Minister, and will mean the time a life sentence prisoner must serve before being considered for parole will be 12 years.
John Whelan is chairperson of SAVE: Sentencing And Victim Equality.
He set it up after the murder of his sister Sharon and her two daughters - Zara and Nadia.
He told The Hard Shoulder being able to write to the board is not the same as being directly involved.
"I welcome the sentiment where the objective is to try and make victims' families the centre of this.
"But if that was really going to happen, if that was really going to be something substantial, I would think that victims should be part of the Parole Board as well.
"We are stakeholders in these decisions, I feel that there are plenty victim support services out there with people with that lived experience who could bring a lot of knowledge and a lot of that lived experience to the Parole Board."
'No one from the victim's side'
He says there is no one on the board to be the voice of victims.
"What we have is judiciary, we have legal experts, probation, ex-Garda, social inclusion, psychologists, the Prison Service.
"There's no one there from the victim's side of things, to be the voice of those people that are serving the life sentence".
And he believes it remains to be seen how involved families will be.
"I'm still waiting to see how this will play out - I'm sort of reserving judgement until I see the walk being walked.
"At the moment, what they're saying is very laudable and I appreciate that.
"But it remains to be seen how involved victim's families are really going to be".
The board's chief executive Ciairín de Buis earlier told Newstalk that 190 prisoners serving life sentences had submitted requests for parole, and that all of them had spent at least 12 years behind bars.
Ms de Buis also said she would encourage victims to ensure their details are registered with the board - so if and when the person who killed their loved one is due for release, they can be informed beforehand.
"We very much welcome victims registering with us," she said.
"If they want to go onto our website or if they want to give us a ring and register with us, we will be linking in and contacting victims and letting them know that they can make a submission to us.
"And if they do choose to register with us - and it’s entirely their choice - they will be informed then when someone is applying for parole and ultimately [about] the parole decision.
"And we do want to hear from victims."
