Mr. Harry Maguire:

I thank the committee and in particular Senator Martin McAleese for inviting us to come here. It is good to be here and to have this opportunity to talk about our practice, which is predominantly, but not solely, Northern-centric. I hope we will have a positive discussion on restorative approaches and on what we have been doing in this area.

We have handed out copies of our presentation - the full detail of which we will not go into - which gives a structure to our remarks. First, I will introduce myself. I am a republican ex-prisoner. I have been involved in the restorative justice project through Community Restorative Justice Ireland, CRJI, for nearly 14 years and that has been quite an extensive piece of work. In my other life, I am a parent and a grandparent. I had eight grandchildren in the house last night and we had a family photograph taken. I am also a stakeholder. I live, work and rear my family in the communities we are going to talk about today. Therefore, in terms of qualifications, I am fairly experienced at this. Ms Deborah Watters can introduce herself and give the background to this work.