James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of restorative justice initiatives. As he will be aware, restorative justice is a process that evidence shows can support victims to recover from the impact of crime as well as serving to reduce reoffending. It is an integral part of the work of the Probation Service, which established a restorative justice and victim services unit in 2018. The process helps to identify and repair some of the harm caused by offending. Its value was recognised in the 2020 programme for Government, in which we committed to working with all criminal justice agencies to build capacity to deliver restorative justice safely and effectively. This commitment was carried forward in my Department’s Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform. This was published two years ago and contained a number of actions to strengthen and support the delivery of restorative justice.

This work resulted in my Department’s policy paper "Promoting and supporting the provision of Restorative Justice at all stages of the criminal justice system". The paper brought together all the work carried out since 2020 and identifies the steps needed to strengthen and expand our capability to mainstream restorative justice across all services.

While the Probation Service continues to lead on the roll-out of restorative justice nationwide, referrals can also be made by the courts, An Garda Síochána or as part of ongoing court-ordered supervision, or indeed with people already serving a custodial sentence. It can also be initiated by a victim, if requested and assessed as appropriate. Restorative justice is currently available at several different stages of the criminal justice process and in relation to various types of offence. This includes lower tariff offences as part of diversion as well as post sentence to help meet the needs of people impacted by some of the most serious offences.

My Department has undertaken a lot of work in recent years to ensure the infrastructure to support increased referrals is in place and while I recognise referrals are down on pre-pandemic levels, they are again on the increase, which is welcome.

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