Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his Department’s plans to deal with the high rate of recidivism among burglars; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22646/18]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister will be aware that burglary and aggravated burglary are two of the most serious offences on our Statute Book. The figures also realise that when a burglary is committed and an individual is convicted of the offence, there is high likelihood that the same individual will come back again and commit further burglary offences. The recidivism rate for burglary is much higher than any other criminal act. What are the Government's proposals to deal with this issue from a policy perspective?

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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My Department recognises that, in order to protect the public and reduce reoffending behaviour, a joined up approach to the management of offenders is crucial and essential. There are a number of ongoing joint initiatives and policies that my Department leads across the criminal justice agencies aimed at preventing crime, increasing detection of crime, rehabilitation and supporting desistance from crime by persistent offenders. The first joint strategy on the management of offenders was developed in 2016 between my Department, An Garda Síochána, the Probation Service and the Irish Prison Service and is being implemented on an ongoing basis.

I acknowledge the importance of initiatives such as the successful joint agency response to crime, J-ARC, which involves these four bodies. This is a strategic response to the management of prioritised prolific offenders. The evidence-based, intelligence-led objectives of J-ARC target the 25% of recidivists responsible for 75% of crime; manage identified prolific offenders in order to reduce crime; and enhance public safety by strengthening the co-ordination and integration of policy, practice and research. In 2017, the Irish Prison Service in conjunction with the Probation Service and An Garda Síochána extended J-ARC to three new locations in Dundalk, the Kilkenny side of Waterford city and in Limerick city.

A further development in this area is the youth joint agency response to crime initiative, YJ-ARC, launched in 2017. This targets young people aged 16 to 21 who are the most prolific in their offending and provides a structured co-ordination between the Probation Service, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Irish Youth Justice Service, Tusla and the Department of Education and Skills.

The Government remains fully committed to tackling all forms of criminality and this is evidenced by the increased allocations of resources provided by the Government, with particular reference to these specific streams of funding provided by the Government.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I am glad that the Minister mentioned the Irish Prison Service. Data from the Irish Prison Service shows that recidivism rates in respect of burglary and related offences is at 79.5%. This is the highest rate for any offence and it is considerably above the overall rate for recidivism of 62%.

I also raise this question in the context of the recent comments by Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll when he referred to the large number of prolific burglars for whom the convictions and sentences imposed on them are not having any effect, be it a deterrent effect or otherwise. Assistant Commissioner O'Driscoll has said that when the Garda drew up a list last autumn of burglary gangs it wanted to target during the winter phase of Operation Thor, the sheer extent of some of their criminal records stood out. We need to recognise that this issue causes great concern to the public. Although burglary and aggravated burglary is referred to as a property offence, it is in fact much more serious because there is a huge impact on the persons affected.

I welcome the proposals the Minister spoke of with regard to his Department's policy developments but we need to do something else by way of a deterrent. Does the Minister have any proposals around deterrents?

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has brought up the role of the Irish prison Service and I acknowledge its importance. In recent years, prison services have placed a much greater emphasis on support services to prevent re-offending, and offering support towards desistance of criminal activity. The Deputy is aware there is a wide range of rehabilitative programmes including education and vocational training; healthcare; psychiatric services; psychological services; counselling; welfare; and spiritual services. Access to these services remains a critical feature for offenders in addressing their offending behaviour. A greater emphasis is now being placed on pre-release planning, on putting supports in place and on making links to services in the community for offenders who leave custody. On a recent visit to a joint agency response to crime centre, J-ARC, outside Waterford city, we saw the manner in which the service is keyed in through other services in the community, for example, in the sponsoring of employment initiatives. There is no doubt, and I invite Deputy O'Callaghan to agree with me, that the best possible course of action for young offenders of a persistent nature, once they have discharged their debt to society and are released from prison, is the provision of a job. That is a key plank of Government policy.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Minister on that point. He is correct that if any person coming out of prison can get a job, it can reduce enormously the prospect that he or she will become involved with criminality again. Unfortunately, however, the statistics reveal something more serious. The Irish Prison Service data reveals a huge high rate of recidivism of individuals who are committing burglaries. We must put forward some form of deterrent approach to the issue, as well as the admirable solutions the Minister has identified. We need to see whether we change the sentencing process. If an individual is involved in a series of burglaries that have been committed over a period of time, and where it looks as though there will be no change in that individual's behaviour, we need to look at whether stronger sentencing is required for that person.

We also need to recognise that the primary purpose of burglary is to try to increase the wealth of the burglar. We need to think about imposing fines and sanctions that can be properly levied on individuals who have been convicted of these offences. There is more to this than simply trying to remedy the individual and in trying to put him or her back on the path to a proper life. Unfortunately, there are some cases where we cannot do this and we need to have stronger sanctions for them.

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The prison recidivism statistics study to which the Deputy refers is a detailed examination of those who were released from custodial prison sentences in 2010 and whether they were subsequently convicted of a further offence up to the end of 2013. The study findings indicate that the recidivism and re-offending rate was 45.1% for the cohort of offenders released in 2010. When compared to the equivalent cohort for the previous year, there is a fall in recidivism, albeit modest, of 2.4%. This follows a 3.5% decrease that was seen for the 2009 cohort from the previous report. I acknowledge that these are modest figures but we are moving in a positive direction. Last year saw the continued successful implementation of the joint Irish Prison Service and Probation Service community return programme and the community support scheme. These are structured, temporary release schemes that provide for supervised community service. I assure Deputy O'Callaghan and the House that I am very conscious of the issues raised and I want to ensure that every effort is made through legislation and otherwise to move towards the reduction of crime, especially in the cohort referred to by the Deputy.