Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not the first time I have been here but it is great to be on this side. I apologise to members of the committee. They were stuck with me from 9.30 a.m. until about 1.00 p.m. as we were dealing with the justice and defence Estimates. I know the Chairman has very kindly asked me to deliver a short address during the course of the dinner we will have. It is bad enough hearing me once without hearing me twice. This is something I have a lot of excitement about. I empathise with Mr. Brennan and Mr. Justice Reilly in particular because they have a record of looking for change in this area and have done very significant work. Having the opportunity today to look at it from an international perspective helps to broaden the insights we may have as to how things work in practice and what works and does not work. It is also very important for the committee to think through issues that need to be thought through. I will say much more later but I wish to make two particular points.

In advancing this project, we need to look at how we do this - obviously involving communities - and look at it in a manner that brings a slightly different perspective. I would see an initial project in the city centre as a pilot project in which the Department of Justice and Equality, the Courts Service, Dublin City Council and other services engage in a partnership to progress what I think will be a very important development in conjunction with the local business community. The local business community has a very important role to play. I am very conscious that for this to work, which is something I firmly believe in, it must be a fully integrated project. I was pleased to hear people saying this. It does not work as a post box; it does not work where a judge with limited supports recommends that individuals go to a range of other agencies, none of which are part of the infrastructure of what is there. We have seen this in microcosm in dealing with the district family court in the city centre, where the mediation service is in the same building and where people come in to possibly go to war on a child custody or access issue and are first given the opportunity to have a conversation about the possibilities of mediation. That is working to deflect people from unnecessary litigation and to deal with matters in a less contentious atmosphere. The one-stop shop concept is of huge importance. We will come back to that. I will come back to what I think is worth exploring in the context of the business community and how it may perceive this. We were dealing with our Estimates earlier and I am very conscious as Minister that I have fewer and fewer resources each year, but we can use resources very wisely and effectively. A partnership that includes the business community, which may assist in the provision of some of the services that are not normally associated with our traditional courts structure, will be of great value.

I thank the Chairman in particular. I know this initiative is very dear to his heart and this feeling is one that we share. This has been a really valuable afternoon. It is great to sit here and not have questions thrown at me. I should do this more often. It is fantastic watching other people in the hot seat and I think they have done really well. I know Mr. Murphy would be really disappointed if I did not mention him. One of the difficulties associated with being Minister is that while I was listening a dozen other things were happening that I must deal with, and these were being communicated to me.

I would not like the wrong impression to arise, and I appreciate the very constructive contributions made by Mr. Murphy on behalf of the Law Society and Mr. McGillicuddy on behalf of the Bar Council, but there was one thing Mr. Murphy said that I would not like to leave unchallenged. He used the phrase "the Probation Service is broken". I assure him that it is far from broken. It is doing extraordinary work at the moment under the leadership of Vivian Geiran and is engaging in innovative projects. For the first time in the history of the State, we have a joint strategic programme between the Prison Service and the Probation Service. Rather than not being able to cope with the work coming to it, we are looking at how we expand that work, again in the context of using resources wisely. The Probation Service is particularly engaged in a very innovative way now. In the past, when we released people from prison, we sent them to see their probation officers if they needed to remain under supervision. The Probation Service is now engaged within the prisons and deals with people in the period prior to their release, looking at the supports that are required and what the service can do to ensure there is less re-offending. There is a lot of very important work being done in that area and in the context of community service projects. The Probation Service is working not just in the context of community service orders made under the original 1983 Act as amended over the years but in dealing with early releases under the new programme within the Prison Service.

Approximately 500 prisoners have now been released earlier under this programme than would have been usual, in circumstances where they have been assessed as posing no risk to the community, have been of good behaviour in prison and have agreed to do community service in return for early release. This is proving to be a very important and beneficial project. We are discovering that fewer of those who are released in these circumstances are returning to crime or reoffending in the short term because they are doing something instantly meaningful upon their release. They are not left in a position whereby they are effectively unemployed. In excess of 100 people are currently on release under this scheme and the probation service is doing extraordinary work. I realise Mr. Murphy may have not meant the phrase in the way he put it but I would not like the word to go out that this is a problem. Like every Minister, I would love to have more resources and more people working in the service but the people who currently work in the service are doing an extraordinary job.