asked the Minister for Justice if, with reference to his statement to the Dublin Lions Club on 6th June, he will give further details as to the improvements in the probation service which have been carried out within the past five years, and any further improvements which are at present under consideration, and which may be put into effect shortly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Probation Service.
64.
In recent years the number of persons placed under the supervision of probation officers had fallen to less than 250 at any one time from a figure of over 700 in the late forties. In consequence, as some of the paid probation staff were not fully occupied one officer was loaned to the Adoption Board and vacancies, as they occurred, were not filled; furthermore the services of voluntary social workers were not being availed of at all.
The Inter-departmental Committee which I established last September reported to me in favour of re-establishing the probation service in Dublin under the leadership of a probation administration officer who should be of high executive ability and who should be assisted by four male and two female paid probation staff and a number of voluntary helpers with experience of social work of this kind.
Arrangements have been made for the immediate recruitment through the Civil Service Commissioners of the probation administration officer and the other staff required. In addition, I have made Orders under Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1914, giving formal recognition to three societies in Dublin concerned with youth welfare. Two such societies already exist in Cork and two in Limerick. The section enables the district court, in making a probation order in respect of a minor, to appoint any person provided by a recognised society to act as probation officer in the case.
I hope that, in time, societies throughout the country, who are interested in the welfare of youth, will apply for recognition and that the courts will place young people under their supervision. I think that the probation system is an excellent reformative system of which much greater use should be made than has been in the recent years.