Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

Like other speakers I welcome the Bill. It is a welcome move forward. Any legislation that will reduce the number of committals to prison will have a positive impact in communities and on the levels of recidivism within the criminal justice system.

There has been an increase of more than 35% in committals to prison in 2009. The number of three-month committals has increased by 63% from 2008 to 2009. The significant increase in the number of people being committed to prison is a very worrying trend and in many cases for quite minor offences which could be dealt with in a more effective way within the community.

The Bill provides a presumption against imprisonment for offences with sentences under 12 months. It has been suggested by the Irish Penal Reform Trust that judges should be forced to give a written reason for the decision to imprison upon conviction rather than imposing a community order. This would be an important provision which would lead to an understanding of the reasons a judge chooses committal to prison rather community service.

International statistics show that measures such as those contained in this Bill will have a significant value-for-money impact. The imprisonment of an offender has a significant cost to the Exchequer. The cost of using probation services is significantly less than the cost of prison. We must focus not only on the economics and value for money aspects of the criminal justice system, but also on the need to rehabilitate offenders. The Bill must strengthen the probation and welfare service to ensure rehabilitative measures are more effective. That the number of probation orders will increase as a result of this legislation is to be welcomed but the Bill will not achieve the desired rehabilitative effect if the probation and welfare service is unable to deal with the volume of cases coming before it.

It is vital that community service orders are used to require offenders to engage with local communities. This approach helps reduce recidivism. Too often, community service is done out of view of and without contact with members of local communities. It is important that offenders engage with their communities in order that they fully understand the reasons they have been convicted and become aware of the impact of their crime on their community. This type of engagement will reduce the number of offenders who re-offend. The Bill would be strengthened, therefore, if it included measures to ensure the probation and welfare service is in a position to provide the type of community service that results in proper rehabilitation of offenders and enables local communities to see the positive effects of rehabilitation.

Much of the increase in the number of prison committals is due to the knee-jerk reactions of legislators and the courts to public demand for stronger sentencing and more effective action to reduce crime. Committing people to prison for three months or more is counterproductive as it places the offender in contact with lifetime criminals and creates a vicious cycle of repeat offending. I ask the Minister to ensure the probation and welfare service is able to meet the additional demands that will placed on it as a result of the enactment of this legislation.

While I do not have figures to hand, I understand many of the people in our prisons have been sentenced for non-payment of fines. It is counterproductive to put someone in jail for two, three or four weeks for failing to pay a fine. Surely the Bill could be amended or new legislation introduced to allow community service to be extended to those who, for whatever reason, fail to pay fines. They should work to the benefit of their local community in recognition of the fact that they have received a conviction and fine.

I welcome the Bill and hope it progresses through the House and is enacted quickly.

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