Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I thank the Minister for bringing forward the Bill. It is a technical one that tidies up provisions across our courts and civil law system, and we will, of course, be supporting it. However, I want to use the opportunity, when we have a Bill that is to do with the appointment of more judges, to talk not about the structures of the courts but about the culture that exists within them, particularly when it comes to sentencing and rehabilitation. If we are serious about justice and the administration of it in this country, we have to be honest about the fact that they are still far too slow to use community-based alternatives that actually work.

Last year, South East Technological University, in research commissioned by the Department of Justice, examined how judges view community service orders. What it found is incredibly instructive for our work here. Judges, particularly outside of Dublin, continue to rely on short custodial sentences, of less than 12 months, even though every piece of evidence tells us they do nothing to reduce reoffending. Many judges interviewed admitted they had little information about how community service works in practice - for instance, about completion rates, programme quality or supports for people with addiction or mental health issues. One judge who was interviewed for the research said plainly that they would love to know how community service is analysed, which courses are rehabilitative, and which are suitable for people with addiction or mental health issues. This is absolutely not intended to be a criticism of judges - far from it. It is an indictment of the lack of feedback, judicial education and resources around community sanctions. That same excellent piece of research highlighted that almost half of District Court judges do not have a probation officer regularly sitting in their court, and just as many lack access to community service suitability reports.

It recommended that all courts should have access to community service suitability reports without delay and same-day reports and pre-sanction assessments should be available to every judge in every district. That is a simple, powerful reform that would make many more community sentences a real option instead of an aspiration. At the justice committee meeting this week, we heard about some of the innovations that take places in the specialist Children Court in Dublin. We were then told those innovations are not available elsewhere. That is a real omission and something we should look to rectify. Another study for the Judicial Council by SETU reached the same conclusion that judges need sentencing guidelines on non-custodial sanctions, better training on alternatives to custody and a major reinvestment in the Probation Service to provide pre-sanction reports and community projects in every part of the country. Those are not radical ideas; they are practical, evidence-based solutions to ensure we do not keep using short-term prison sentences that in fact achieve very little. Judges in every court should have the tools, training and information to see probation and community sanctions not as letting someone off but as a structured, supervised path out of reoffending.

I acknowledge there has been progress. The latest report from Restorative Justice shows that referrals to restorative programmes increased in 2024 and provision expanded to new counties, which should be welcomed, but there are still counties that have no specialist restorative provider. Most victims are never even offered to choice to take part and the vast majority of Garda cautions remain non-restorative in nature. The progress is real but it is still limited and very localised. If we are appointing new judges, this is the moment to reshape the judicial culture to ensure rehabilitation and restorative approaches are seen not as a leniency but as justice done well. We need a re-investment in the Probation Service, sentencing guidelines and a judicial bench book that includes community and non-custodial sanctions and joint training between the Judiciary, Probation Service and restorative justice providers. The difference between community or custody is about whether our courts become a conveyor belt into overcrowded prisons or a place that genuinely gives people the tools to change. A short prison sentence may satisfy the demand for punishment but rarely serves the public interest in the long term; community sanctions, when properly understood and resourced, are infinitely better. We have talked quite a bit about recidivism rates which are extraordinarily high even by European standards. If we get the court culture right and provide alternatives to prisons across Ireland, that could make things a lot better. I welcome the Bill.

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