Mr. Shane McCarthy:

I referred to a small-scale survey of solicitors and other people working in the criminal justice area, as reported on in the Irish Probation Journal. It has been noted that when visiting judges come to the Nenagh area, where a restorative justice scheme is under way, they are not as aware of the rules applicable to the scheme as the judges who handle it day in, day out. Visiting judges are far less likely to refer a case to a restorative justice solution, as opposed to the standard solutions in the District Court. There is a lack of knowledge of restorative justice schemes right across the board, for example among solicitors, judges and other people practising in the area. One of the major things done as part of the roll-out of the extension of the scheme in Nenagh involved building awareness of the advantages of restorative justice schemes and creating an acceptance of such schemes among the community, which would not be aware of them. It was considered that such knowledge-building was a vital step in increasing the acceptability of restorative justice as an alternative justice mechanism.