Frances Fitzgerald
Question:11 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice if she will consider setting up a care resources committee to assess the need for hostels and special centres to provide for the aftercare of offenders.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Care Resources Committee.
Hostels, workshops and day centres under my aegis are run by voluntary committees in association with my Department's Probation and Welfare Service to provide accommodation, work-training and counselling for offenders. These committees comprise a wide range of representatives from relevant Government and non-governmental agencies. Depending on the type of facility these would include representatives of my Department's Probation and Welfare Service, the voluntary body itself, members of the Judiciary and business community, the responsible health board, vocational education committee, FÁS, etc.
My view is that the committees are best placed to ensure efficient and caring management of the facilities and effective co-ordination between the various Government and non-governmental agencies involved. My Department, of course, is responsible for the policy, funding and overall direction of these facilities and adding a further layer to the current organisational structure would not, in my view, serve the offenders' best interests.
I acknowledge that many of the committees do sterling work. Would the Minister agree that the quality of the facilities provided for the aftercare of offenders is uneven and that this is a contributory factor to the revolving door syndrome we discussed earlier? Would she further agree that in order to have a more consistent approach there is a need to carry out an overall assessment, as I suggest in the question, to ensure that the service is further developed and there is a more even standard?
No system is perfect and there is always room for improvement. It is the policy of the Department to co-ordinate, along with the Probation and Welfare Service, the activities of these committees to ensure that there is an even standard in all the workshops and hostels. I would be delighted if the Deputy lets me know if she has received any complaints because since I became Minister for Justice I have not received any complaints that the standard is uneven.
Is the Minister aware that the Whitaker report recommended that we provide additional hostels and training workshops for the aftercare of prisoners and that many offenders have nowhere to go when they leave prison? They may end up on the streets and, inevitably, commit crime. Would the Minister agree that no assessment of the needs of prisoners when they leave prison is carried out with the result that they return to the prison system which costs us a substantial sum of money? Would the Minister consider something along the lines proposed by the Whitaker review committee which is currently considering the possibility of aftercare for offenders who have served long sentences to prevent offenders ending up in prison again at a cost to themselves and society in general?
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Ken Whitaker, the current chairman of the sentence review group, earlier this week when he had some very interesting comments to make and recommendations to put to me. I will give these serious consideration in the review of prison policy but it would not be right to say nothing has happened in regard to Whitaker's recommendations on hostels. For example, a new hostel, which can accommodate 11 boys, was built in Waterford last year at a cost of £250,000. Lyons Villa Hostel in Dublin was recently renovated while the Dún Laoghaire youth project established a training workshop in the mid-eighties to cater for 20 disadvantaged young people at risk in the area. Side by side with this development of centres, workshops and training units much has been done in areas such as Ballyfermot in Dublin and Southill in Limerick where the Probation and Welfare Service is actively involved. Some progress has been made on the recommendations in the Whitaker report but, as I said, no system is perfect and I am sure there is more we could do.