Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Halligan on bringing forward this timely and important Bill. It contains some excellent provisions to deal with the escalating number of intrusions into family homes and properties. The loss of valuables and items of sentimental value and the general destruction that occurs have a huge psychological and stressful impact on the victims of such crime. Victims feel insecure and in many cases they feel powerless to defend themselves and their properties afterwards.

A typical recent example is that of the elderly man living alone in west Clare who, after several events threatening his well-being, fled from his home late at night and cycled a very long journey to a safe haven in a nursing home in Ennis. The result is that he will probably never again return to his homestead. He has been prematurely removed from his environment, his neighbourhood and all his friends. This man has been institutionalised by force. It is a typical example of what is happening, particularly with people living alone who are the victims of criminality.

In 2009 the National Commission on Restorative Justice recommended that a restorative prospective be introduced nationally to the Irish criminal justice system. Unfortunately the report has been left on the shelf gathering dust, although it includes many positive recommendations which could be incorporated into Deputy Halligan's Bill. Perhaps his proposals could act as a catalyst to tie in with the report, which was commissioned by the Government at the time. I am sure a very efficient committee was in place which came up with some very good suggestions. It provided a very good formula for restorative justice and reparation. We should not throw out Deputy Halligan's Bill very easily. Much thought has been put into it and it is very rational and logical. We should give it real consideration and send it to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. The least it deserves is for this to happen.

The commission estimated the cost per case of a probation order to be €8,200 and that of a community service order to be €2,000. The supervision of a suspended or deferred sentence was estimated to be €5,500. By comparison, the average annual cost of keeping an offender in prison is approximately €120,000. In the absence of research-based evidence and relevant supporting data, the commission in its report opted to develop the estimates of the potential wider application of restorative justice based on 2007 court and prison data and a cautious assumption of the level of case referrals and case outcomes and the mix of cases which may be diverted from current disposals. The commission offered a tentative projection of a wider application of restorative justice in respect of adults on criminal charges before the courts at between 3,265 and 7,250 per annum.

In the absence of research-based evidence and based on certain assumptions, the commission projects that annually, between 290 and 579 persons due to be sanctioned before the courts could be diverted from being given a custodial sentence where a restorative option is applied. The commission estimates that diversion from custodial sentences of this range could lead to a reduction of between 40 to 125 prison spaces per annum. It estimates this level of reduction could generate potential savings in prison costs of between €4.1 million and €8.3 million. The assumptions applied in making these projections are considered to be modest and do not include savings that would arise from lower rates of reoffending in the future due to restorative interventions. The projections excluded savings from reduced demand for prison spaces due to part-suspended sentences as a restorative option.

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