James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy that restorative justice has huge potential. There are three elements needed, namely, the community, the victim and the offender. For the victim it can have quite a cathartic effect when it is handled right. The Deputy understands restorative justice needs to be handled very carefully. The offender has to be willing and understand and face up to their offence. The victim needs to be willing to participate. Then there is the community aspect to it. We need to have those three points for it to be effective and for the offender to understand the damage they have caused. When we have that situation where the community, victim and offender are brought together it can have a really positive effect on all three aspects of that and reduce reoffending.

As I said, we have published our policy paper and are rolling it out. We want to see a consistent approach to restorative justice in our courts system. I agree, as someone who has practised in law, that it has been done on a bit of an ad hoc basis, but as I said there are really excellent examples across the country. We want to take those examples and ensure restorative justice is available countrywide.

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