David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

From the justice committee, I apologise on behalf of Deputy Anne Ferris and Senator Bacik, who cannot attend. Others may drop in, but the Dáil is in session and some members are there.

On behalf of members of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, I am happy that this joint sitting is occurring. This is our second joint sitting during this Dáil. The first was this morning. It is especially strange to have two on one day, but there we go.

We look forward to listening to what the witnesses have to say and engaging with them on the issues that they bring to our attention. As the Co-Chairman stated, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss with the witnesses their driver rehabilitation programme, which we are interested in from a justice point of view. We have done a great deal of work on rehabilitation, penal reform and so on, as the witnesses may be aware. All parties and none on the justice committee are agreed that any alternative to criminal sanction should be explored and used to the maximum. This was the thrust of a report on penal reform that we issued a while ago. We also considered community courts and other such initiatives with a view to keeping people out of the criminal justice system, including prison. Any initiative like the one being discussed today is most welcome. We look forward to what the witnesses have to say, particularly about the impact on recidivism and how effective their approach has been.