Ms Una Doyle:

I will respond to the question on antisocial behaviour being a beyond the Pale experience for communities. If I have time, I would like to come back to the impact of the victims' directive on restorative justice, which is a very important piece we all need to be very mindful of.

What tends to happen with antisocial behaviour is reporting and newsworthiness tends to land the story and the experience in the significant urban hubs, namely, Dublin, Cork and Limerick. That said, if we went to any community throughout the country, we would see they are experiencing antisocial behaviour at different times and in different patterns than might be experienced in the cities. As a national service we have a network of offices with 40 locations nationwide. I assure the committee that the District Courts and Probation Service are quite busy across the board in all those locations, which just shows the impact of that behaviour on people. The issue of fear in rural communities is also quite significant. It is different from the urban experience but is no less significant for the people who perceive themselves to be under threat or at risk of harm. We should not undermine their experience. Antisocial behaviour in different parts of the country may be experienced differently but is there nonetheless. Certainly, we know anecdotally that weekends, starting on Thursday and going through to Sunday, can have a significant impact across communities. That is also quite an important point to remember.

I will come back to the impact of the victims' directive on the restorative justice piece, which follows on from the last contributor. The EU directive on victims and, in particular, the provision of restorative justice has been transposed into Irish legislation. In that context, the directive very clearly states that it is affording and safeguarding the rights of, and protections for, victims in the criminal justice system. That is a very important point for all of us whether we are working with younger or older people, with those in communities or with people who feel separated from their community. The victim experience of the criminal justice system in particular is something we have to be very mindful of. That legislation brought in two very important things. One is about consistent, professional practices and engagement with victims throughout the process and their rights to be protected in that regard. Second, on restorative justice, the EU directive is very clear in stating that where restorative justice provision is available it must be delivered to the highest standard and to best practice and delivered by trained competent staff. That is a very important point for all of us. We have to ensure that our interventions are not inadvertently causing extra harm for victims or secondary victimisation elsewhere.