Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2004
135 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has satisfied himself with the operation of, and services provided by the Probation and Welfare Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9232/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy predecessor, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, following a Government decision, set up an expert group to examine the Probation and Welfare Service under the chairmanship of Mr. Brian McCarthy. This group produced its first report in November 1998. The final report of the group was published in May 1999 and made several recommendations. Many of the recommendations of the expert group report have been implemented by my Department. Staffing levels have been raised. There has been substantial investment in a customised IT system and an IT unit has been established. The new technology, when fully operational, will have the capacity to produce information about the utilisation and effectiveness of community sanctions, giving us information about crime in Ireland not previously available. A common State funded public liability insurance scheme has been put in place to enable a greater number of community groups to have community service projects operated on their premises without the need to incur substantial insurance costs. These are some of the measures which have been implemented.
The service has the responsibility to implement those orders of the court which require the supervision of offenders by the probation and welfare staff, that is, probation and other supervision orders and orders which require work to be performed by way of retribution to society, that is, community service orders. The service also provides to courts pre-sanction assessment reports which enable judges, in determining sentence, to take into account the personal and social circumstances of the offender, the level of risk that further crime will be committed if she or he remains in the community, the attitude of the offender to the victim of the crime and the work programme available to the offender to prevent involvement in further crime.
The service supervises both serious and less serious offenders who are placed under supervision orders by the courts. It also supervises persons released by order of the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform from prisons and places of detention, including life sentence prisoners who have served substantial periods in custody. It has a youth justice section which is being resourced to implement the provisions of the Children Act 2001 throughout the jurisdiction. It also provides a limited service to the Irish Prisons Service in working with the other prison based disciplines towards the rehabilitation of those in prison. In addition, it also prepares detailed assessment reports for the interim parole board.
It is the case, however, that increasingly in recent years the service has been under pressure to meet the growing demands of both the courts and the prison service. This has led to delays in the provision of reports to courts and in the implementation of probation and community service orders. These are some of the issues which are currently being examined by my Department. A value for money examination of the service has also recently been conducted by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The report of the evaluation is expected to be published in the latter half of April and the Deputy can be assured that its implications will be taken fully into account.
