I wish to advise the Deputy that at present there are on average not more than ten clients per day, or 50 clients per week, on supervision attending the Finglas Office of the Probation and Welfare Service.All clients assigned to officers based in Finglas would not necessarily attend at the Finglas office. In some cases home visits are made or clients attend other offices which are more convenient to their homes. The clients currently attending mainly come from the Finglas and Ballymun areas.
While the number of clients attending the office will be determined by the numbers placed on supervision by the courts, the total supervision caseload dealt with by the Finglas office is currently 190 cases and not 300 as referred to by the Deputy. At present there are approximately 65 clients who attend on a regular basis. Persons serving community service orders usually attend the office on a once-off basis only and thereafter at the site where they are doing the work.
The Probation and Welfare Service must supervise all offenders placed on supervision by the courts. Before the offenders is placed on supervision, the courts would have taken into account the nature of the offence and the risk element to the public in each particular case. As all these cases remain under the jurisdiction of the court, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the type of offences or the number of offenders from each geographic area in the environs of Finglas who attend the Finglas office. I wish to inform the Deputy however that out of a total caseload of 190 clients for the Finglas office, there are two sex offenders who are on probation supervision by order of the court, each attending the Finglas office once a fortnight. It should be borne in mind that most offenders on supervision in the community are not subject to any particular restriction regarding their freedom of movement and are therefore free to travel to any part of the city, including Finglas, at will.
