Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Restorative Justice (Reparation of Victims) Bill 2013 and I commend my colleague, Deputy Halligan, on bringing it before the House. I urge the Government to accept the Bill so that it can become part of our criminal justice system. The contributions thus far have focused on burglary rates across the State. The burglary rate increased by 13% between 2004 and 2012 and in certain parts of the country it increased by more than 40%. It appears that criminals are responding to the cuts in Garda numbers by stepping up their activities because they know there is a strong likelihood that they will get away with their crimes. In my county of Donegal, a number of aggravated burglaries have been perpetrated against elderly people. In one case an elderly woman was unable to return to her home after she experienced an aggravated burglary and has since died in a nursing home. Over the past several weeks, thousands of people have attended meetings across County Donegal to highlight their concerns about burglaries and the impunity the preparators appear to enjoy.

This legislation deals with restorative justice. If it is applied to the crime of burglary, it would allow compensation to be paid to a victim for loss of property and personal injury. That is an important part of the legislation. Restorative justice is well understood across society, particularly in the context of anti-social behaviour, joy riding and other less serious crimes.

Communities understand what is involved where perpetrators of crime do work within the community to reflect their view that they know that what they have done is wrong.

However, this Bill does things differently, which is welcome, and puts the victim of the crime at the centre of the process. It has been recognised by victims' groups that victims feel left out in the criminal justice process. Upon enactment of this legislation, the perpetrator of the crime will have a direct responsibility to provide reparation to the victims of his or her crime, and that is an important principle to establish.

The Bill provides for a system of pre-trial and post-trial reparation whereby somebody who is due to be tried for a series of burglaries or whatever can, in advance of the trial, start the process of reparation, and this can be taken into account when it comes to sentencing for the crime. There are instances in which a form of reparation such as this may be more appropriate. I refer to young first-time offenders who are caught early. The prison system is not the way to deal with them because in prison they learn how to become real criminals and come out to continue a life of crime, whereas a system of reparation such as this will make them understand the need to compensate their victim and force them to think about the impact of their crime on the victim and the hurt caused. That could play an important role in diverting offenders away from a life of crime that the criminal justice system is not able to play. While prison is supposed to be rehabilitative, it is not. It breeds, rather than rehabilitates, criminals. A system such as this could have the potential in those circumstances to allow offenders to be diverted away from crime in the future.

What is proposed in this legislation is not intended to be a replacement for those who need a custodial sentence for the crimes that they have committed. Along with a custodial sentence, there can be the reparation as well. That is a welcome part of it too. I commend the Bill to the House.

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