Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have to confess that no more than Deputy Daly, I have not given it due consideration either. I very much welcome Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill. I would agree with the vast majority of Deputy Daly's commentary. I certainly think that the gender balance issue is something that can easily be got right. With regard to what Deputy O'Callaghan said in terms of Deputy Wallace's point that prison does not work, I would agree with Deputy Wallace in the vast majority of cases. However, there are obviously certain circumstances in which prison is probably and unfortunately the only option.

In its last term, I was the rapporteur for this committee on work we did on restorative justice practices, which have been proven to work exceptionally well in areas where the effort has gone in to setting up restorative justice. The examples that are regularly quoted are south Dublin and north Tipperary where there has been up to a 70% improvement in terms of second offences and people realising what they have done. We also did extensive work in this committee on community courts and the necessity to set up a community court on a pilot basis in inner city Dublin. As we are all aware, the principle of community courts is to bring all of the various stakeholders together in an environment of support, assistance and rehabilitation, as opposed to the adversarial environment of the big stick. In places like Times Square in New York, it has worked remarkably well. I am very much of the view that prison is an absolute last resort. There are an awful lot of people in prison today who really should not be in prison and whom the system has let down.

In the overall context, I believe this is a very welcome Bill. I commend Deputy O'Callaghan on the work he has done on it because we are here to bring forward legislation to improve the lives of citizens. I will make a point of bringing this up in the Seanad to encourage the Government, as I am sure my colleagues will do as well. The Deputy's own party has a significant influence on Government and I certainly think that the Deputy and his party will pursue this. I will certainly commit to it in the Seanad, as I know my colleagues will. In the last term in the Seanad, I tabled a motion on restorative justice, which we succeeded in getting unanimous support for. I also tabled a motion on community courts. Again, we received unanimous support for that. It is actually quite frustrating to see the delay in getting a pilot project up and running. We are where we are. I wish the Deputy well with the Bill and I will engage with it as best I can.