Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 February 2017
126. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of full-time probation officers employed in each individual prison from 2012 to 2016 and currently employed in each individual prison; if there has been a reduction in staffing levels in terms of probation officers between 2010 and 2016; and the number of prisons that currently only have one part-time probation officer. [7294/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, the Probation Service is structured into 7 operational regions, 5 geographical regions and 2 national regions. The Prisoner, Risk and Resettlement Region is the operational region that covers probation work in all prisons nationwide.
In 2010, there were 37 staff (Probation Officers and Senior Probation Officers) in the Prisoner, Risk and Resettlement Region. The staffing levels for the Region from 2012 to 2016 are set out in the following table. The Probation Service is currently appointing Probation Officers from a competition held in 2016 to fill a number of vacancies throughout the Probation Service. Three new Probation Officers have been appointed to the Region since 1 January 2017, bringing the current staffing level for this Region to 38 staff members (Probation Officers and Senior Probation Officers).
|
End of Year |
Total Probation Officers* (*including Senior Probation Officers) |
|
2012 |
39 |
|
2013 |
39 |
|
2014 |
39 |
|
2015 |
40 |
|
2016 |
35 |
|
2017 (to date) |
38 |
