Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I think we also need to look at other ways in which we can improve, such as by making sure the community services side of things is operating in a more efficient and effective way, which it possibly is not at the moment. More work can be and needs to be done there in order that fewer people who did not need to go to prison go to prison. There are a number of strands to this. We now have probation assistants, who are new to the overall system, and 12 commenced their positions in the past two days. Moreover, a total of 30 probation assistants will be in place by the third quarter of 2024, in addition to probation officers. They will work with them and support them, and while they may not have the same level of qualifications as probation officers, there is a different pathway for them to be able to work with the probation teams. This is in addition to probation officers. It is new this year but we hope to have 30 in place by the end of the year. According to my note, from 31 December 2022, the number of probation officers was 230, while from December 2023, it was 241, so it has increased. I will revert to the Deputy specifically on how many of those are in prisons.