Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 15 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 1

Written Answers. - Community Service Orders.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

150 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons required to undertake community service in each of the years 1998, 1999 and to date in 2000 and who have not to date undertaken such service; the reason in this regard; and the action he will take. [25878/00]

Alan Shatter

Ceist:

233 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons required to undertake community service in each of the years 1998, 1999 and to date in 2000 and who have not to date undertaken such service; the reason in this regard; and the action he will take in this regard. [25886/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

Section 6(2)(b) of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act, 1983, provides that the court by which a community service order is made, shall send a certified copy of the order to the probation and welfare officer in the district in which the offender resides. The probation and welfare officer concerned is responsible for giving a copy of the order to the offender and for making arrangements regarding implementation of the order. The number of such notifications received by the Probation and Welfare Service in each of the years 1998, 1999 and up to 30 June 2000 is as follows:

Year	No. of Orders
1998	1,269
1999	1,300
2000 (to 30 June)	600

The figures for 1999 and 2000 are provisional.

Recent analysis indicates that all community service orders notified to the Probation and Welfare ServiceColour RGB 255,0,0 in 1998 were implemented and that all such orders notified in 1999 have either been implemented or are in the process of being implemented. The number of community service orders notified to 30 June 2000 which have not yet commenced is 212.

Every effort is made to implement community service orders but there are several reasons an order is not implemented in a particular case or not implemented within a particular timeframe. First, all convicted persons have a right of appeal against conviction and some persons sentenced to community service do so. Implementation of the order cannot proceed pending the outcome of the appeal and even where the order is confirmed on appeal, the effective date of the order will be amended. Second, under section 7(2) of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act, 1983, a person has 12 months from the date an order is made to perform the work specified in the order and may, under section 9 of the Act, apply for an extension to this period. Thus an order made in 1999 might not fall to be implemented until 2000. Third, a delay in implementation may arise where, for example, an offender is working during the week and arrangements have to be made to enable him or her to perform the community service in the evenings or at weekends.