Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for his reply and welcome the scheme which, as he said, comes on foot of the pilot project. I think only four individuals ended up returning to prison under the pilot project, yet some of the commentary surrounding the recent announcement was unfortunate. I do not know if it was something that fell through the cracks but some hysteria was created around it, which was completely unwarranted. The clarification provided during the Topical Issues debate allayed many of the fears people had.

When I asked the Minister last year about the probation services, he said he had secured sanction from the Department of Finance to hire eight additional probation officers. Are those additional staff now in place and, if not, when does the Minister expect them to be in place?

The Minister said he is satisfied the probation service has the resources and staffing to deal with the scheme, but will he continue to review it? If so, how often will those reviews take place?

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